Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep
by Azura De Martel
Summary: After the Mark of Mastery exam, Master Eraqus and Yen Sid sent their apprentices off on their journey to other worlds to vanquish the threat of Unversed that appears. Not knowing that Xehanort had already planned something sinister for them in his mind.
1. Chapter 1

_I don't own the game Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, it belongs to Square Enix. I only own my OC characters, Kallima, Beaufort, Josette, Aglaia and maybe others._

 **Prologue, part 1**

On the sandy shores of a beach of a small island, a spiky silver-haired, tan-skinned guy wearing a sleeveless black shirt, dark grey-coloured bands on his wrists, long dark grey pants and black boots is standing on the shore and staring out at the ocean and the bright sun that's setting down for the night to arrive.

"This world...is just too small." said the guy to himself.

 **Several years later…**

At night, an elderly man wearing a long black coat with a hood over his head (which covers the upper part of his face), black gloves on his hands, black boots on his feet (and carrying a person wrapped in a white-coloured blanket under his left arm) stands on the sandy beach at the exact same spot where the guy stands on a few years ago and he stared out at the ocean and the night sky for a few seconds before the elderly, black coat man turned to his left to walked down the beach toward a set of small wooden stairs, walked slowly up the stairs and walked across a wooden bridge and he stopped in his tracks in the middle of a slightly round-shaped sandy field (which had some grass, coconut trees and a single paopu fruit tree growing near and around the edge of the field).

"There, you see? An empty world like a prison. I imagine you'll be right at home here." said the elderly man to the person wrapped in a white blanket which he carried under his left arm before he lifted and placed the person down on the large trunk of the paopu fruit tree. A small gust of wind blew across the person's face to reveal the face of a young slightly fair-skinned, spiky blonde-haired boy with blank and sleepy-looking clear blue eyes before the boy closed his eyes and fell asleep.

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After the young spiky blonde-haired boy fell asleep, he appear and started to fall downward within the dark and vast space of his own subconciousness. As he kept on falling, the white blanket wrapped around his body began to disappear to reveal the boy wearing a white and dark grey-coloured pants with and a pair of dark grey and white-coloured shoes with some red-coloured stripes on it.

The boy then opened his eyes to look at the vast and dark space around him before he look down, saw that he's falling toward a wide, white-coloured circular platform (which had a broken and missing part of it) before he landed and stands on the cracked-up circular platform. After the boy landed on the cracked-up circular platform, he soon heard a voice began speaking to him.

"Who's there?" the boy asked the voice talking to him.

" _I'm a brand new heart."_ the voice told the boy.

"But this is…" said the boy confusingly to the voice. "Why are you in my heart?" the boy asked the voice.

" _The light brought me here."_ replied the voice. " _I saw it shining in the distance… and followed it here."_

"Yeah." said the boy as he nodded his head in agreement to the voice while he raised and placed his right hand on his chest. "That was my light. But my heart is fractured. And right now… the remaining heart that I have left is slipping away."

" _Then you should merged your fractured heart with mine."_ said the voice to the boy.

"Huh? Why?" said the boy in confusion to the voice before he watched as a light shone on the cracked-up part of his heart and healed it up until it's whole once again.

" _Now our hearts have touched and merged together."_ said the voice reassuringly to the boy. " _Nothing else will slip away. And someday… you'll be strong enough to win and take back the fractured part of your own heart."_ added the voice to the boy.

"Right. Thanks." said the boy thankfully to the voice.

" _It's time for you to wake up now."_ the voice began saying. " _All we need to do is…"_

"Open the door." the boy finished saying before the light on the circular platform under him began clearing away to reveal the picture/painting of himself on it (and with several different patterns/drawings in different green colours as the background behind the picture/painting of himself). The boy glance down at the picture/painting of himself on the circular platform before he disappear from it.

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After the elderly man placed the boy on the large trunk of the paopu fruit tree, he turned and began to leave the boy there and he didn't watched as the boy suddenly turned himself around on the trunk of the tree and slowly raised his right arm up into the air. The elderly man then stopped in his tracks, turned around and he saw a sword in the shape of a large key appear in the boy's hand.

"A Keyblade?" said the elderly man in a surprised tone of voice after he saw the Keyblade appear in the boy's hand before he saw several small energy of blue and white-coloured lights appear and gather near the upper tip of the boy's Keyblade before the energies of light shot upward away from the Keyblade and struck the night sky, creating a shower of several bright and twinkling lights on the night sky.

The elderly man glance up at the part of the night sky which the light from the boy's Keyblade just struck into before he lowered his head to glance down at the boy and began smiling smugly to himself.

As for the boy, he slowly opened his blank-looking blue eyes to look up and saw the final few remnants of the light twinkling away in the night sky.


	2. Chapter 2

**Prologue, part 2**

 **4 years later…**

Inside a room which had a small fireplace with a single empty glass and a small yellow-coloured weighing scale next to the glass above it, a semi-large rectangular wooden table with a mask, two small boxes, some papers and books on it next to the small fireplace, a wooden bookshelf with dozens of books in it next to the table and with a yellow-coloured telescope facing out the windows in front of the bookshelf (while both the table and the bookshelf is leaning back against the right wall which had some papers glued or pinned on the wall with strange symbols drawn on the papers) while several odd-looking items, a wooden shelf built on the top left corner of the wall (while the left wall also had more papers glued/pinned on it with more strange symbols drawn on them) which had a light blue-coloured toy submarine, a single pot of plant and an empty birdcage on the wooden shelf.

The young, spiky blonde-haired boy (who's wearing a black-coloured T-shirt with a button-up grey-coloured, vest-like shirt over the black T-shirt, a kind of short-sleeve jacket which is black in colour on one side, white in colour on the other over the vest and the T-shirt (while the collar of the jacket is pleated, folded down and is red in colour) and with a pair of black-coloured straps that criss-crossed over his jacket with a silver-coloured emblem in the center of the criss-crossing straps, a kind of dull green and dark blue-coloured armor tied securely on the left sleeve of his jacket, a white and dark grey-coloured pants and a pair of shoes that matched the outfit the boy is wearing) is currently lying on his back on a slightly large single-sized bed near the windows inside his room before he sat up from the bed, let out a small bored sigh then he turned his head to his left to look out the windows and he gasped in surprise when he saw several shooting stars flying across the night sky filled with thousands of bright stars.

"A meteor shower!" said the spiky, blonde-haired boy in an excited tone of voice before he quickly turned around and jumped off the bed, run out of his room, turned to his right and he accidently run and barreled straight into a fair-skinned, long titian hair, blue-eyed young girl (who's wearing a short-sleeve white-coloured T-shirt with a pair of dark purple-coloured straps that criss-crossed over her T-shirt with a silver-coloured emblem in the center of it, a pale yellow and dark blue armor tied securely on the right sleeve of her T-shirt, knee-length magenta-coloured skirt and matching magenta-coloured flats) before they fell with a slightly painful thud on the floor.

"Ow! What's your hurry, Ventus?" said the long titian-haired, blue-eyed girl as she scowled at the spiky, blonde-haired boy named Ventus for suddenly running out of his room then barreling into her and knocking them both to the floor.

"Oh, sorry for barreling into you, Josette." Ventus apologized to the long titian-haired, blue-eyed girl named Josette before he stood up and hold out his right hand at her to helped her up.

"Apology accepted, Ventus. So what's your hurry?" Josette asked Ventus after she clasped his hand and stood up from the floor.

"That's because I just saw some meteor showers flying across the stars in the night sky outside the windows in my room, Josette! So I'm going to head out to see them right now!" Ventus told Josette excitedly before he run past her down the hallway toward the front door.

" _Meteor showers, huh? Been quite a while since we last saw them."_ thought Josette in her mind before she decided to turn around and followed after Ventus (who didn't look back and saw that Josette is now following slightly far behind him since he run toward the front door first).

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Ventus opened and run out of the large front door then run down the long staircase of his home (which looks like a large white and gold-coloured castle with 5 of its own buildings connected side by side with each other, dozens of tall and sharp-looking spires protruding out from the tops of each 5 buildings and with 2 huge and thick-looking gold chains that wrapped around the castle and connected it to the top of 2 tall and twin rocky peaks which is covered with green mosses to keep the castle close to them and to the grassy mountains and the flowing river), run across the large circular forecourt, run down the grassy mountain path and run across a small white-coloured bridge until he stopped running when he reached the training ground and saw the 2 wooden training equipments with some large, circular, gold-coloured chained rings hanging on the 2 wooden equipments.

"I've got some time to spare!" said Ventus as he smirked at the wooden training equipment in front of him and summoned his Keyblade out (which is black and yellow-coloured and is called "Wayward Wind") before he began attacking the single gold-coloured chained ring hanging on the wooden equipment with his Wayward Wind Keyblade (while still unaware that Josette had followed and caught up to him and is now watching him attacking the ring silently behind him).

After Ventus's done in attacking the single chained ring hanging on the wooden equipment for a few seconds, he turned and walked away from the first wooden equipment and stopped in front of the second wooden equipment (which is a tall and huge wheel-like wooden equipment with 4 large, circular, gold-coloured chained rings hanging around it).

"What? You want a piece of me too?" Ventus taunted the huge wheel-like wooden equipment in front of him before he began attacking it (which caused it to swung its 4 rings round and round when Ventus's attack struck one of its rings head on).

" _Oh, Ventus."_ thought Josette as she slowly shake her head at what Ventus just spoke out loud to the wheel-like wooden equipment in front of him (before he began attacking it with his Keyblade) before she make her way toward him. "Looks like you're getting better at your training, Ven." Josette told Ventus.

"Really, you think so, Josette?" Ventus asked Josette as he ceased his attacks on the wheel-like wooden equipment and turned to glance at her.

"Uh huh." said Josette as she nodded to Ventus, who smiled at her.

"Wait, what am I messing around here for?" said Ventus suddenly to himself when he finally realised/remembered what his initial goal is. "I'm gonna miss the meteor showers! Come on, let's go and see them, Josette!" Ventus told Josette before he reached out and grabbed hold of her hand and he bring Josette with him up a grassy/rocky path toward the large, grassy summit field/cliff together (which had 5 or 6 bright lamps standing on the edges of the summit's cliff around the large summit field and a single white-coloured bench near the edge of it). Once both Ventus and Josette reached the large summit field/cliff, they slowly walked forward and stopped in their tracks near the edge of the field/cliff (and near where the bench is) before they raised their heads to look up at the thousands of bright stars shining while also seeing some more meteor showers flying across the night sky.

"Wow…" said Ventus with an awed look on his face.

"Wow is right, Ven. Those meteor showers that flew across the night sky are always beautiful." said Josette as she let out a small, happy sigh before she sat down while Ventus lie down next to her with his hands behind his head on the ground near the edge of the field/cliff.

"Yeah, you're right, Josette. But still… Why does this seem so familiar to me?" Ventus mumbled to himself and to Josette (who turned to glance down at him in silence) before he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

" _Ven, you look so cute and peaceful when you fell asleep."_ thought Josette with an amused look on her face when she saw that Ventus had fall asleep before she heard the sound of 2 soft footsteps coming toward her and the slumbering Ventus from behind. She turned to look behind her and saw that it's 2 of hers and Ventus's close friends, Aqua (a fair-skinned, short blue-haired, blue-eyed young girl who's wearing a black-coloured, high collared sleeveless halter-top with 2 pink-coloured straps which criss-crossed over her chest with the same silver-coloured emblem in the center of it, long white-coloured bell sleeves on both of her arms with a dark-blue and yellow-coloured armor on the left bell sleeve of her arm, dark grey-coloured fingerless gloves on her hands, short black-coloured pants, long black stockings and short silver/black-coloured boots on her legs and 2 long blue and white-coloured cloths wrapped securely around her waist) and Beaufort (a tan-skinned, short light brown-haired, blue-eyed young guy who's wearing a dark blue-coloured T-shirt with 2 light blue-coloured straps criss-crossing over his T-shirt with a golden-coloured emblem in the center of it, a dark grey and yellow-coloured armor on the right sleeve of his T-shirt and a long black-coloured jeans and white/black-coloured shoes on his legs).

Josette raised and held her left finger over her mouth at both Aqua and Beaufort while raising and pointing her right finger silently at the still slumbering Ventus lying on the ground next to her, silently telling both Aqua and Beaufort that Ventus's is currently asleep and that they need to approach her and Ventus silently. Both Aqua and Beaufort nodded to Josette before Aqua let out a small chuckle while Beaufort had a mischievous smirk/look on his face when they saw Ventus sleeping on the ground before they quietly approach both Josette and Ventus.

A few seconds later, Ventus woke up from his short slumber, sat himself up from the ground to look up at the night sky filled with bright stars for the second time before he yawned and stretch his arms a little.

"Had a nice nap, Ven?" Josette asked Ventus.

"Yeah, I sure did, Josette." replied Ventus before he lie back down on the ground and saw both Aqua and Beaufort suddenly appearing and looking down at him from his upside-down view.

"Whoa!" Ventus cried out in surprise before he quickly sat himself up from the ground and rolled over onto his knees to glance up at Aqua and Beaufort with a pouting look on his face (while they and Josette smiled and chuckled at his surprise reaction). "Gimme a break, Aqua, Beaufort!" Ventus told Aqua and Beaufort before he turned to scowled at Josette. "Why didn't you wake and tell me that they're behind us, Josette?" Ventus demanded of Josette.

"Because it's more fun to see how you'd react if you didn't know that we're behind you, Ven." said Beaufort in a mischievous tone of voice to Ventus.

"Ven, you hopeless sleepyhead." said Aqua to Ventus. "You know that you should have at least brought a blanket with you if you're going to sleep out here."

"Yeah, Ven. Like what Aqua just said, or you might catch a cold." said Josette while Beuafort nodded in agreement.

"But… Did I dream that place up?" said Ventus to himself as he lowered his head to look down at the ground. "It really felt like I'd been there before… looking up at the stars…"

Both Josette and Beaufort exchange confused glances with each other when they heard what Ventus just said while Aqua hold out and placed her hand on Ventus's head to ruffled his head a little.

"'Cept you've always lived here with us for the past 4 years now, Ven." said Aqua as she smiled at Ventus.

"Yeah… I know, Aqua." said Ventus as he smiled back at Aqua before both he and Josette stood up from the ground, turned around to walked toward the edge of the field/cliff with both Aqua and Beaufort following closely beside them and all 4 of them sat down on the edge of the field/cliff together.

"Hey, Aqua, Josette, Beaufort?" Ventus began talking as he glance left and right at Aqua, Josette and Beaufort and they glance at him. "Do the 3 of you ever wonder what stars are? Where light comes from?" Ventus asked them.

"No, we don't, Ven." replied Beaufort.

"Hmmm… Well, they say…" Aqua began saying to Ventus as she glance away from him to glance up at the night sky.

"… That each and every stars shining up there is another world." the voice of yet another of their close friend finished Aqua's words suddenly from behind the 4 of them before they turned to glance at their friend (which turns out to be a tan-skinned, short spiky dark brown-haired, blue-eyed young guy who's wearing a high-collared black-coloured T-shirt with 2 red-coloured straps criss-crossing over his T-shirt, a pair of long dark grey/yellow-coloured hakama pants with a golden emblem at the top center of his long pants, dark brown-coloured boots on his feets, a black wristband on his right wrist and a golden, brown and dark grey-coloured armor on his left arm).

"Terra." both Aqua and Josette greeted and say his name while both Ventus and Beaufort smiled and nodded their heads at Terra.

"Hello, you guys. And yep, hard to believe that there are so many worlds out there besides our own." said Terra as he make his way toward the 4 of them and stopped in his tracks in front of them. "The light is their hearts, and it's shining down on us like a million lanterns."

"Wow, Terra. Those are quite the smart and poetic words that you just said to us." said Beaufort as he smirk at Terra.

"Hey! What do you mean by that, Beau?" said Terra as he scowled at Beaufort.

"Oh, not a thing, Terra." said Beaufort with a feigned innocent look on his face while Josette chuckled a little at Beaufort messing with Terra a little.

"What? I don't get it." said Ventus with a confused look on his face.

"In other words, they're just like you and Jo, Ven." Terra told both Ventus and Josette.

"Like me and Ven?" said Josette in a confused tone of voice to Terra.

"Yeah." said Terra with a nod of his head to Josette.

"What does THAT mean?" asked Ventus as he stood up from the edge of the field/cliff, turned around to approach and stop in front of Terra.

"You and Jo both will find out and know about it someday, I'm sure." replied Terra.

"Why don't you just tell us now, Terra? Don't keep the both of us in suspense." said Josette in a pleading tone of voice to Terra.

"Yeah, I agree with Josette, Terra. We wanna know now." Ventus demanded at Terra.

"Sorry, no can do, Ven, Jo. The 2 of you are still too young to know now." said Terra.

"That's so not fair of you, Terra!" said Josette with a pouting look on her face.

"Yeah, Terra! Quit treating the both of us like kids already!" said Ventus as he scowled at Terra.

"The fact that you and Josette just acted like kids proves that you 2 are still kids, Ven." said Beaufort to Ventus, causing both Ventus and Josette to turned and scowled at him.

"Beaufort, not you too!" said Josette in a disbelief tone of voice at Beaufort, who smirked back at her.

Aqua watched her 4 close friends started bickering, teasing and messing with each other in amused silence until she can't take it anymore and began laughing. Her laughter caused Terra, Beaufort, Ventus and Josette to ceased their bickering and all 4 of them immediately turned to glance at her.

"Hey, what are you laughing at, Aqua?" Terra asked/demanded at Aqua.

Aqua ceased her laughter for a moment to answer Terra's question while she glance at them. "Sorry, I can't help it. The 4 of you would make the weirdest brothers and sister." said Aqua in an amused tone of voice to Terra before she resumed laughing at them.

"Huh?" said Terra, Beaufort, Ventus and Josette in confusion at Aqua's words before they drop their bickering/messing attitude and started to laughed with her before all 4 of them sat down on the edge of the field/cliff with her to glance up at the stars together after they're done laughing.

"Oh yeah! Terra, you, me and Beaufort have our Mark of Mastery exams tomorrow." said Aqua suddenly to both Terra and Beaufort (who turned to glance at her, same goes for Ventus and Josette) before she stood up and stepped away from the edge of the field/cliff while staring at them and putting her hands into her pockets to pull out 5 different coloured, star-shaped trinkets with brown strings on them and showed the 5 trinkets to them. "I made us some good luck charms!" Aqua told them with a smile on her face before she threw the orange and purple-coloured charms toward both Terra and Beaufort, who quickly stood up from the edge of the field/cliff and caught the charms easily (while both Ventus and Josette stood up as well and stared in awed at the 2 orange and purple-coloured charms in Terra and Beaufort's hands). "Here's both of yours, Ven, Jo!" Aqua told Ventus and Josette before she threw the light green and dark pink-coloured charms toward both Ventus and Josette, who also caught the charms easily.

"Me and Josette get one too?" said Ventus as he smiled widely at Aqua.

"Of course, Ven. One for each of us." said Aqua as she hold out her own good luck charm to show them (which is blue in colour) and Terra, Beaufort, Ventus and Josette hold their charms out near hers.

"Wow, thanks for these good luck charms, Aqua! They're beautiful." said Josette happily at Aqua.

"You're welcome, Jo." said Aqua as she smiled at Josette before she turned to look away from them and glance down at the blue-coloured charm in her hand. "Somewhere in 1 of the worlds out there, there's this tree that grew star-shaped fruits on it… and it's fruits represents an unbreakable connection. So, as long as you and your friends carry good luck charms shaped like it, nothing can ever drive you apart. You'll always find your way back to each other." Aqua say and explained to them about it before she turned to glance back at them. "Technically, I think you're supposed to make them with seashells, but I did the best with what I had."

"Wow, really, Aqua?" Josette asked Aqua.

"Yeah, Jo." replied Aqua.

"Oy, sometimes you're such a girl, Aqua." said Terra.

"Hey, what do you mean "sometimes", Terra?" said Aqua as she scowled at Terra.

"I agree with Terra, Aqua. Because sometimes girls like you and Josette would think, do and make such things." said Beaufort to Aqua and she turned to scowled at him, same goes for Josette.

"So, these charms you just gave us aren't real good luck charms?" said Ventus in a sad/disappointed tone of voice to Aqua.

"Well… that's yet to be seen, Ven. But I did work a little magic on them." Aqua told Ventus.

"Really? Like what?" asked Ventus curiously.

"An unbreakable connection, of course." said Aqua as she smiled at Ventus and hold her charm high in the air above her. Terra, Beaufort, Ventus and Josette smiled at her before they put their good luck charms inside their pockets.

"Well, like Aqua just said and reminded us, tomorrow's the exam." said Terra to Beaufort, Aqua, Ventus and Josette as he walked forward and stop a few feet away from them. "Anyone of you want to do some last minute spar?"

"I can take ya!" said Ventus as he summoned his Wayward Wind Keyblade out while Terra smirk at Ventus then turned around to faced him and summoned his own Keyblade out (which is a blue and dark brown-coloured Keyblade named Earthshaker).

"Good luck, Ven! You'll need it!" said Josette in an encouraging tone of voice at Ventus.

"Try not to hurt Ven _too_ badly, Terra." Beaufort told Terra.

"Yeah, I know, Beau." replied Terra before both he and Ventus began charging across the field toward each other. Ventus swung and slash his Wayward Wind Keyblade swiftly down on Terra several times while Terra used his Earthshaker Keyblade to blocked and defend himself from Ventus's swift attacks.

"Quit goin' easy on me, Terra. You're not gonna win unless you stay on the offensive!" said Ventus, which caused Aqua, Beaufort and Josette to sighed and shake their heads at him.

"Okay, if you say so, Ven." said Terra before he charge toward Ventus and swung/slash his Earthshaker Keyblade several times down and hard on Ventus, who quickly dodged and blocked against Terra's hard attacks with his Wayward Wind Keyblade before they jumped backward away from each other.

"Okay, Terra. That's enough sparring you had with Ventus. It's time for mine and Aqua's turn to spar against him and Josette to see how's their training is." said Beaufort as he, Aqua and Josette summoned forth their own Keyblades (which is a black and blue-coloured Keyblade named Vagos Maestus for Beaufort, a silver and dark blue-coloured Keyblade named Rainfell for Aqua and a white and orange-coloured Keyblade named Helianthus for Josette) before the 3 of them walked forward past Terra (who nodded then dismissed his Earthshaker Keyblade, turned and walked away to let the 4 of them spar) and both Beaufort and Aqua turned to faced both Ventus and Josette before they charge across the field toward each other and they swung, slashed and blocked their Keyblades several times at each other until they had enough of their spar and moved backward away from each other.

"Not bad, Ven, Jo. Both of your Keyblade trainings have improved." said Beaufort as he smiled proudly at them.

"Thanks, Beaufort." said Josette as she smiled back at him.

"Yeah, thanks, Beau! And trust me, you, Terra and Aqua are definitely ready and you 3 are gonna clean up at the exam tomorrow." said Ventus.

"I hope it's that easy." said Terra as he make his way toward Ventus and Josette.

"It's like the Master said. Power is born within the heart. When the time is right, both you and Josette need to look inside yourselves… and I'm sure that you 2 will find it there." said Aqua as she and Beaufort make their way toward Ventus and Josette as well.

"Yeah, exactly, Ven, Jo." said Beaufort.

"Thanks for saying such encouraging words to me and Ven, you three." said Josette as she and Ventus smiled at Aqua, Terra and Beaufort (who smiled back at her) before they dismissed their Keyblades.

"Well, time for us to head back now. It's getting a little late." said Terra to Ventus, Aqua, Beaufort and Josette before he turned and walked away.

" _Yeah, we know, Terra."_ thought Josette with a nod of her head at Terra's retreating back before both she and Beaufort turned and followed behind him.

"Wait for me!" said Ventus as he turned and followed after the 3 of them while Aqua continue to glance up at the starlit night sky for a few more seconds then turned and followed after the 4 of them.

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 _That would be the last night we ever spend time together beneath the same stars._

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 **Meanwhile, in another world…**

A short, fair-skinned round-faced mouse guy with black round-shaped ears above his head, white eyes with black pupils in them and a black nose and wearing a black and grey-coloured T-shirt with matching shorts on his body, black shoes on his feets, white-coloured gloves on his hands and a long and thin black tail behind his back is currently trying to balance the large opened book under his feet as the ocean water under the opened book swayed vigorously back and forth and also left and right.

Then a sudden gust of ocean water swept the opened book and the mouse guy straight forward and round and round a swirling water cyclone before the ocean water swept both the opened book and the mouse guy up into the air and the ocean water under the mouse guy abruptly vanished to reveal a large circular room with yellow-coloured wall which had several wooden shelves built on the wall with books on them and a wooden door, several yellow-coloured pots leaning against the wall on the green-coloured floor and under the book shelves and the mouse guy glance down at the floor under him with a surprised look on his face before he fell face down with a painful thud on the floor.

"Aw, looks like I failed once again." said the mouse guy sadly to himself.

"Oh, don't say such sad words, Mickey. I'm sure that you'll pass my grandfather's exam with flying colours next time." said a fair-skinned, long blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl who's wearing a sleeveless, knee-length dark green-coloured dress with a white-coloured bolero jacket over it and brown-coloured boots on her legs reassuringly to the mouse guy named Mickey as she hold out her left hand and helped him up from the floor.

"Yeah, I guess you're right, Kallima." said Mickey as he smiled at the girl named Kallima, placed his gloved hand on hers before he stood up from the floor and they turned to glance at the elderly man (who's wearing a long sleeve blue robe with a long blue hat on his head with the golden symbols of a crescent moon and a star on it) sitting in a long green-coloured wooden chair behind his rectangular table.

The elderly man glance silently at his granddaughter and the mouse guy standing in front of his table for a few seconds before he closed his eyes and lowered his head a little. "Kallima… Mickey…" the elderly man began speaking to them both.

"Yes, grandfather. What is it?" said Kallima.

"I cannot shake the feeling that something terrible is about to transpire." the elderly man told both Kallima and Mickey, who glance and exchange confused then worried glances with each other after they heard what the elderly man just told them both.

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Through and outside the huge star-shaped window of the elderly man's room, six bright stars is twinkling away in the night sky.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 1: Mark of Mastery exam and leaving the Land of Departure**

The next morning, Terra, Aqua, Beaufort, Ventus and Josette woke up early before they swiftly got out of their beds, cleaned then dressed themselves up in their usual outfits, left their rooms and they gathered and walked down the hallway together until all 5 of them reached and went into a large throne-like room (which is blue, yellow, pale green and brown in colour with several blue-coloured pillars built on both sides of the large room near the white-coloured walls, a large, circular multi-coloured window on the wall at the back of the room (with streams of sunlight shining through the window into the room) and three tall-looking brown-coloured chairs standing side by side on a wooden podium in the front of the room).

After they step into the large throne-like room, Terra, Aqua and Beaufort immediately walked forward, stopped in their tracks and stand side by side in front of the wooden podium with the three tall-looking chairs standing side by side on it (2 of which had two middle-aged and elderly men sitting on them) while both Ventus and Josette walked forward then moved away from Terra, Aqua and Beaufort, turned and stand with their backs facing one of the pillars standing near the white wall and they stared at their 3 friends.

Both Ventus and Josette then noticed that the elderly man (who's a slightly dark-skinned, bald-headed, yellow-eyed man with a small goatee beard under his chin, wearing a white-coloured shirt with 2 black-coloured belts tied across the bottom of his shirt, long black pants and black boots on his legs with a long black coat over his shirt, pants and boots and a pair of long white gloves on his hands) sitting on the chair on the left side of the wooden podium is staring silently and sinisterly at them, especially at Ventus (who sighed and quickly look away from the elderly man, same goes for Josette).

A few seconds later, both Ventus and Josette quickly stand at attention when they saw and heard the slightly tan-skinned, long black-haired, brown-eyed middle-aged man (who's wearing a dark blue-coloured shirt/armor with 2 white-coloured straps which criss-crossed over the front of his shirt/armor, long pale grey-coloured hakama pants and black/grey-coloured boots on his legs, a long white-coloured coat over his shirt/armor, pants and boots while his black hair is tied-up in a short, topknot style behind his head and his face had 2 scars on his right eye and left cheek) stood up from his chair on the right side of the wooden podium, walked forward and stopped in his tracks near the edge of the wooden podium to glance back and forth at 3 of his apprentices standing in front of him before he began speaking to them.

"Today you will be examined for the Mark of Mastery. Not one but three of the Keyblade's chosen stand here as candidates, but this is neither a competition nor a battle for supremacy. Not a test of wills but a test of hearts. All 3 of you may prevail, or none at all." said the middle-aged man to Terra, Aqua and Beaufort. "But I'm sure that our guest, Master Xehanort, did not travel all this way to see our youngest prospects in years fall short of the Mark." added the middle-aged man to them as he glance over his left shoulder at the elderly man named Master Xehanort (who nodded his head in silence) before he glance back at Terra, Aqua and Beaufort. "I trust that all 3 of you are ready?" the middle-aged man asked them.

"Yes, Master Eraqus." replied Terra, Aqua and Beaufort back to the middle-aged man named Master Eraqus at the same time.

"Then let the examination begin!" said Master Eraqus as he summoned forth his Keyblade (which is a long white, brown and black-coloured Keyblade called "Master Defender") before he hold his Keyblade, Master Defender close to him and it glowed briefly with white magic. Soon six large orbs of bright lights appeared 1 by 1 out of thin air in the middle of the room and Terra, Aqua and Beaufort turned around and summoned forth their Earthshaker, Rainfell and Vagos Maestus Keyblades. But before they could begin their examination, Master Xehanort waved his right hand a little and Terra, Aqua, Beaufort and Master Eraqus gasped in surprise when they saw some auras of darkness appeared and surrounds the 6 large orbs of lights (while Master Xehanort smirked to himself once he's done his little work).

Terra, Aqua and Beaufort decided to ignore the auras of darkness surrounding the orbs of lights and they raised their Keyblades, charge toward the orbs of lights and they attacked and destroyed 3 of the orbs of lights (only to have 3 more appearing and replacing the previous 3 orbs of lights). Out of the corners of Terra, Aqua and Beuafort's eyes, they saw that 2 of the orbs of lights flew away from them and headed straight toward Ventus and Josette.

"Ven! Jo!" Terra, Aqua and Beaufort cried out in worried unison at the both of them.

Both Ventus and Josette swiftly summoned forth their Wayward Wind and Helianthus Keyblades and they swung and destroyed the approaching 2 orbs of lights with their Keyblades.

"Don't worry about the 2 of us, Terra, Aqua, Beaufort!" said Ventus.

"Ventus's right! The 3 of you should focus more on your exams instead of us!" said Josette.

"But Ven, Jo, the 2 of you are in danger here! You two should leave and wait in your rooms!" said Aqua worriedly to both Ventus and Josette as she, Terra and Beaufort stood back to back with each other while they glance warily at the orbs of lights surrounding them.

"We refused, Aqua! Both Ventus and I have been waiting and looking forward to this moment!" said Josette as she shake her head at Aqua.

"Josette's right, Aqua! We wanted to see the 3 of you become Masters! And we're not going to miss it now!" said Ventus as he nodded his head in agreement to Josette's words.

"They can take care of themselves, Aqua." said Terra in a reassuring tone of voice to Aqua. "The 2 of them have been out there training just as hard as the 3 of us."

"Terra's right, Aqua. So you don't have to worry so much for Ven and Jo." said Beaufort as he nodded his head in agreement to Terra's words.

"Yeah!" said Ventus and Josette in unison to Aqua before they smiled at Terra and Beaufort.

"Very well, then. Stay sharp, you two!" Aqua told Ventus and Josette.

"Of course we will, Aqua!" said Josette before both she and Ventus immediately charge forward and swung/slash their Keyblades down on the orbs of lights (which started to zig-zag swiftly around the room) alongside Terra, Aqua and Beaufort for the next few minutes until all 5 of them are done in destroying the orbs of lights and they dismissed their Keyblades before Terra, Aqua and Beaufort turned to walked back and stand in their previous spots in front of Master Eraqus while both Ventus and Josette walked then stand in their previous spots near the pillar and blue wall.

"That was unexpected… but even so, one must keep a still, steady heart even in the most trying of circumstances. It was an excellent test, one which I choose to let unfold." said Master Eraqus. "Which brings us to your next trial."

Terra, Aqua and Beaufort nodded in unison to Master Eraqus before they turned around, walked away from Master Eraqus and from each other toward 3 different corners of the room before they summoned forth their Keyblades and turned to faced each other.

"Now, Terra, Aqua and Beaufort, the 3 of you will face each other in combat." Master Eraqus told them. "Remember, there are no winners- only truths, for when equal powers clashed with each other, their true natures is revealed. Begin!"

At his command, Terra, Aqua and Beaufort charge toward each other and they swung, clashed and defended themselves with their Keyblades multiple times against each other. Aqua then back-flipped herself away from Terra and Beaufort's downward strike on her before she charge toward Terra, raised and swung her Rainfell Keyblade upward at Terra, who quickly jumped himself backward away from her upward strike before he quickly dodged to his left away from Beaufort's downward strike on him. Terra gasped a little then narrowed his eyes when he saw both Aqua and Beaufort began to charge toward him and he hold out his left arm in preparation to cast a magic attack on them both. But instead of magic, a small aura of darkness appear and swirled around his left arm and Terra glance down at the small swirling aura of darkness on his arm with a surprise/shock look on his face before he clenched his left hand into a fist to dismiss the aura of darkness swirling around his left arm and he quickly raised his Earthshaker Keyblade to blocked against Aqua and Beaufort's downward strikes on him.

As Terra, Aqua and Beaufort continue to fight against each other, Master Xehanort started to smiled evilly to himself when he noticed the aura of darkness that appear on Terra's left arm.

XXXX

 **A few minutes later…**

After their battle, Terra, Aqua and Beaufort stands before Master Eraqus and Master Xehanort (who's talking in small voices to each other before they turned to glance at them) while both Ventus and Josette stands near the pillar once again.

"We've deliberated and reached a decision." Master Eraqus began saying to them. "Terra, Aqua, Beaufort, the three of you performed commendably. However, only Aqua and Beaufort has shown the Mark of Mastery."

Terra, Aqua and Beaufort gasped in surprise/shocked unison when they heard what Master Eraqus just said to them before a sad and disappointed look appear on Terra's face (same goes for Ventus and Josette).

"What? But Master Eraqus…" Josette began saying to Master Eraqus but he cut her off from saying any more words with a serious look on his face and she fell silent, feeling sad for Terra then feeling a little angry at Master Eraqus.

"Terra, you failed to keep the darkness within you sufficiently in check. But there is always next time, that is all." Master Eraqus told Terra before he look away from him and look at both Aqua and Beaufort, while Master Xehanort turned to his left and walked down the wooden podium. "Aqua, Beaufort, as our 2 newest Keyblade Masters, the both of you are entitled to certain knowledge. Please wait here for further instructions." Master Eraqus finished talking to them before he turned to his left and walked down the wooden podium behind Master Xehanort and they walked out of the room.

After the 2 Masters left the room, both Aqua and Beaufort turned to glance at Terra with sad/concern looks on their faces while both Ventus and Josette quickly run toward the 3 of them.

"Hey…" said Aqua sadly to Terra.

"Terra, we…" said Beaufort sadly to Terra before he trailed off into silence, not knowing what to say to cheer Terra up.

"Terra, we're sorry to hear that." said Ventus sadly to Terra.

"That's so unfair of Master Eraqus! He knows full well that you've been training just as hard as the rest of us for the past few years to be a Keyblade Master! And yet he failed you just because of some small aura of darkness that appear and emanate out of your left arm!" said Josette, feeling annoyed at Master Eraqus.

"Be quiet, Jo!" said Beaufort as he scowled at Josette for saying such accusing words of their Master, causing Josette to glared at Beaufort before she crossed her arms and turned to look away from him.

"The darkness… Where did it come from?" said Terra to himself before he turned to look away from them. "I'm sorry. But I need some time alone." Terra told Aqua, Beaufort, Ventus and Josette before he leave the room without looking back.

"Terra…" said both Aqua and Josette sadly as they, Ventus and Beaufort watched Terra leave them and walked out of the room.

"Let's just give him some time to himself for now, Aqua, Ven, Jo." said Beaufort sadly to Aqua, Ventus and Josette.

"I'm going back to my room, Aqua, Beaufort, Ven." said Josette before she turned and walked away from them and out of the room.

"Hey, Jo! Wait for me!" Ventus called out to her before he walked away from both Aqua and Beaufort after Josette and left the room as well.

XXXX

 **Meanwhile, on the staircase near the bottom left side of the room…**

After Master Xehanort walked out of the room, he turned to his right to walked down the hallway away from Master Eraqus until he reached and walked down a staircase, where he stopped in his tracks to meet 2 mysterious young people standing/leaning their backs against the wall of the staircase. One of them is a fair-skinned, spiky black-haired, yellow-eyed young guy wearing a long sleeve, black, red and dark blue-coloured shirt, black gloves on his hands, long black pants with a red belt tied over his waist and a pair of red straps criss-crossed under his red belt, dark red-coloured boots on his legs and he hold his black helmet under his right arm while the other one is a slightly tan-skinned, long black-haired, yellow-eyed young girl wearing a white tank top, long dark grey jeans and black flats shoes on her legs with a long black coat over her tank top, jeans and flats and fingerless white gloves on her hands.

"What do you make of Ventus?" Master Xehanort asked the young, spiky black-haired guy.

"He ain't gonna cut it." replied the young spiky black-haired guy in a sinister tone of voice to Master Xehanort. "Somebody's gotta break that loser in."

"Not here, you won't. I have to keep up appearances. Come, you two." said Master Xehanort to the young black-haired guy and girl.

"Of course we know that, uncle Xehanort." said the young black-haired girl to Master Xehanort as both she and the young spiky, black-haired guy step away from the wall and the young guy slid his helmet on over his head.

"He just needs a little incentive to leave home." said the young guy to Master Xehanort before both he and the long, black-haired young girl walked down the stairs with Master Xehanort.

XXXX

 **Meanwhile, outside the castle…**

After Terra leave the room, he turned to his right to walked down a hallway, walked out of the castle before he walked down then sat down on the bottom steps of the staircase and staring at the large forecourt field in front of him with a silent and concern look on his face, thinking back about the aura of darkness that suddenly appear and emanate out from his left arm.

"There's darkness within me… So what does that matter?" said Terra out loud to himself. "I know that I'm strong enough to hold it back."

"Yes… You're indeed strong. The darkness is nothing to fear." said an elderly man's voice suddenly from the top of the stairs above Terra and he quickly stood up from the stairs, turned around and raised his head to see who is it and he saw that it's Master Xehanort.

"Master Xehanort…" said Terra.

"And yet… How frustrating that Eraqus refutes its power." said Master Xehanort sadly to Terra as he slowly walked down the staircase toward him. "Why, you could train with him forever and still… you'd never be a Master in his eyes."

"But why? Help me understand, Master Xehanort." demanded Terra. "What is it that I've failed to learn?"

"You're fine as you are, Terra. Like my niece, Aglaia, who's unable to come with me to this place to see the Mark of Mastery exam." said Master Xehanort to Terra. "Darkness cannot be destroyed. It can only be channeled." added Master Xehanort to Terra as he reached the bottom of the stairs and walked past him.

"Yes, thank you, Master." said Terra before he bowed thankfully to Master Xehanort.

Suddenly Terra heard the sounds of bells started to sound out from the castle and he quickly turned around and run up the staircase back into the castle, away from Master Xehanort. After Terra run into the castle, Master Xehanort smiled evilly to himself before an oval-shaped portal of darkness suddenly formed and appear in the middle of the forecourt field in front of him and he walked forward into the portal of darkness. As soon as Master Xehanort step into the portal of darkness, the portal of darkness abruptly close behind him and vanished into thin air.

XXXX

 **Meanwhile, inside Ventus's room…**

Ventus lie on his back on the single-sized bed inside his room as he swung a small light and dark brown-coloured Keyblade (with the name Terra carved on it's hilt) back and forth above him while Josette is sitting on a green-coloured chair nearby him with a silent, fuming look on her face.

"I'm so annoyed at the Master for failing Terra just because darkness appear and emanate out of his arm. Why is he so against the darkness anyway?" said Josette out loud to herself.

"I don't know, Jo. But I feel really bad for Terra." said Ventus sadly to Josette.

"I know, Ven. I feel bad for him too." said Josette sadly to Ventus (while the fuming look on her face slowly disappear).

Both Ventus and Josette then heard the sounds of bells ringing out from within the castle and Josette quickly stood up from the chair she's sitting on, turned and run out of Ventus's room while Ventus quickly jumped off his bed and as he was about to leave his room, the sinister voice of a young helmet guy coming from his right stopped him from leaving.

"Better hurry, Ventus…" said the helmet guy in a sinister tone of voice to Ventus.

"Huh? Who are you?" said Ventus in a confused tone of voice to the helmet guy as he turned and saw the helmet guy leaning his body casually against the table with some of his things lying on it.

"Or you'll never see Terra again." the helmet guy resumed telling Ventus, completely ignored Ventus's question to him.

"What? Get real. I can see Terra anytime I want." said Ventus as he scowled at the helmet guy.

"Like right now? He's about to leave you and the others behind." said the helmet guy as he turned to glance at Ventus. "And by the time any of you catch up to him… he'll be a different person."

"Look-whoever you are-you don't know the first thing about Terra." said Ventus before he held out the wooden Keyblade in his right hand and got into a battle stance. "Me, the others and him will always be a team. You trying to pick a fight or what?"

"Oh, grow up." scoffed the helmet guy at Ventus before he stood up and walked away from the table toward the other side of Ventus's room and stopped in front of a small round-shaped table leaning against the wall with a large, light blue-coloured ball floating on the table and several small light blue balls floating around the large one. "Is that what you call friendship? You'll never know the truth unless you go out and look for it yourself. Come on, what could you possibly know when you're stuck here, looking at nothing but what's in your tiny world?"

"Why you…" said Ventus in an annoyed tone of voice to the helmet guy before a surprise look appear on his face when he saw an oval-shaped portal of darkness suddenly formed and appear in front of the helmet guy before the helmet guy walked into the portal of darkness and it vanished into thin air after the helmet guy went into it.

Ventus then sighed and lowered his head to look down at the floor while he think back about some of the good times he had with Terra. Like the time when he would trained together with Terra on the forecourt field outside the castle until they're done with their training and he glance at Terra, who glance and smiled proudly at him. The time when Terra gave him a stern lecture about something before he crossed his arms and shake his head at Ventus, which caused him to sniffle and about to cry before Terra ruffled Ventus hair with his right hand and he apologized to him. And the time where they would sit on the edge of the forecourt field and laugh loudly about something before Aqua, Josette and Beaufort came out of the castle and joined with them.

"Terra!" yelled Ventus before he turned and run out of his room (while shaking his head to stop thinking about the past), turned to his left and barreled straight into Josette before they fell with a painful thud to the floor.

"Ow, Ventus! Again?" said Josette as she scowled at Ventus for barreling into her and knocking them both to the floor for the second time.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Jo." Ventus apologized to Josette before he stood up then hold out his left hand to her.

"It's fine, Ven. Just don't do that to me for the third time." said Josette as she placed her hand on Ventus and stood up from the floor.

After Ventus helped her up, he quickly run past her and run down the hallway to search for Terra (which caused Josette to let out a small sigh before she turned around and run after him).

XXXX

 **Meanwhile, back in the large throne room…**

"… and insomuch as you two are now Keyblade Masters, the two of you must always be conscious of-" said Master Eraqus to both Aqua and Beaufort (who listen to his talk in silence) before his speech got interrupted by the sound of bells that started to ring out from within the castle and Master Eraqus, Aqua and Beaufort raised their heads to glance around the room with surprise and confusion looks on their faces before Master Eraqus turned around and he saw a small oval-shaped, glowing pink-coloured orb floating in thin air behind the tall-looking middle chair.

"What is that?" asked Master Eraqus to himself before he walked forward past the middle and left chair to examined the floating, glowing pink orb. The next moment, Terra burst into the room and he run forward and stopped in his tracks next to Aqua and Beaufort (who briefly glance at Terra before they glance back at Master Eraqus's back).

"What happened?" Terra asked both Aqua and Beaufort.

"We don't know, Terra." replied Aqua.

"We were listening to Master Eraqus instructions when the bells suddenly ring out." said Beaufort.

"Why isn't Ven or Jo here?" Aqua asked both Terra and Beaufort.

"I'm sure they'll be here soon, Aqua." replied Terra.

"Very well, then. I will send my apprentices to investigate together with 1 of your apprentices. Yes, I understand, farewell." said Master Eraqus to the floating, glowing pink orb before he bade farewell to it and it vanished from his sight. Master Eraqus then turned around and walked past the middle and left chair and stopped in front of Terra, Aqua and Beaufort (who immediately stand at attention in front of him).

"That was my dear old friend, Yen Sid. As all 3 of you know, he is Master no more… but he still keeps a close eye on the tides of light and darkness." said Master Eraqus to Terra, Aqua and Beaufort. "His council serves as signposts on the road we wielders of the Keyblade must walk. All the more reason, then, for concern- for he tells me that the princesses of hearts are in grave danger. Not only from the forces of darkness, as you 3 may assume… but also from a new threat- one that feeds on people's negativity. Fledgling emotions that have taken monster form- Yen Sid calls them the "Unversed"."

"The "Unversed", huh?" said Beaufort.

"Yes, Beaufort." said Master Eraqus as he nodded his head at Beaufort. "As wielders of the Keyblade, you 3 are tasked with striking down any who would upset the balance of light and darkness. The Unversed are no exception. I tried to pass this dire news on to Master Xehanort, but my repeated attempts to reach him have failed. I doubt there is any connection, and yet… this all troubles me." said Master Eraqus.

"Master Xehanort is gone?" said Terra to himself. " _But I just spoke to him a few minutes ago."_ added Terra silently in his mind.

"So here we are. I need you 3 to get this situation under control. Eliminate the Unversed, and find Master Xehanort. But you 3 won't be doing this alone for Yen Sid had decided to send out 1 of his apprentices to help you 3 out, which is his granddaughter, Kallima. Furthermore, I have unlocked the Lanes Between, you 3 may use these forbidden pathways to travel between this world and countless others. The darkness looms closer than usual within these spaces, but your armors will protect you. Lastly, remember that order must be kept. You 3 cannot tell anyone that there are other worlds. Now, go and fulfill your duties with Kallima." said Master Eraqus to Terra, Aqua and Beaufort.

"Yes, Master." replied Terra, Aqua and Beaufort in unison to Master Eraqua before Terra turned around and began to walked away.

"Hold on a second, Terra." said Master Eraqus to Terra and he stopped and turned to glance back at him. "Consider this an opportunity. A second chance for you to change my mind." Master Eraqus told Terra.

"What?" said Terra with a confused look on his face.

"You must know, I care for you like my own son. If I could have my way, I would name you Master in a second." said Master Eraqus as he walked down the steps of the wooden podium toward Terra and stopped in front of him. "But, how can I, when I saw that you are so obsessed with power? Terra, you mustn't be afraid of losing. Fear leads to obsession with power, and obsession beckons the darkness." Master Eraqus trailed off to raised and placed his right hand on Terra's shoulder. "You must never forget that." Master Eraqus added to Terra.

"Thank you, Master." said Terra as he bowed a little in front of Master Eraqus. "I swear… I will not fail you again."

After Terra's done talking with Master Eraqus, he turned around, walked away from the 3 of them and walked out of the room. Both Aqua and Beaufort watched him leave with worried looks on their faces before they glance at Master Eraqus.

"Master, we'd best be on our way now." said Aqua to Master Eraqus (while Beaufort nodded to him) before they turned around and began to walked away from him and they saw Ventus suddenly run past them toward the direction of the front entrance of the castle with Josette following closely behind him.

"Hey, Aqua. Isn't those 2 who just run past us is Ventus and Josette?" Beaufort asked Aqua.

"Yeah, you're right, Beau. It is them." replied Aqua.

"Wait, Aqua, Beaufort." Master Eraqus called to them both and they stopped and turned around to glance back at him. "Before you two depart, I have one other… Well, call it a request, of the utmost priority."

"Yes?" said Aqua.

"What kind of request, Master?" asked Beaufort.

"I told Terra that this could be a second chance for him to show the Mark of Mastery… and I meant it." said Master Eraqus to Aqua and Beaufort. "However, that flicker of darkness which he displayed during the examination- I can sense that it runs very deep within him. If he were to- If the power of darkness within him prove too much for him to handle, I want the both of you to bring him back to me at once."

"Are you serious, Master? Do you really doubt Terra that much?" said Beaufort in an incredulous tone of voice.

"That's not what I mean, Beaufort. Just know that it's for his own good." said Master Eraqus in a slightly stern tone of voice to Beaufort. "I could not bear to lose any of you to the darkness."

"Of course, Master. We would never let that happen." said Aqua with a nod of her head to Master Eraqus. "We promised you that we'll bring Terra back. Only this time, you'll see that he has what it takes to be a Master like me and Beaufort just become."

"Good. Now you two best be off now." said Master Eraqus to both Aqua and Beaufort, who bowed their heads at him before they turned around and walked out of the room.

"Despite what the Master just said and what you're thinking now, Aqua, Terra's not a weak person." said Beaufort.

"I know he's not, Beaufort." said Aqua.

XXXX

 **Meanwhile, on the forecourt field…**

Terra was about to leave when he heard the sounds of running footsteps and also heard Ventus calling out to him from behind.

"Terra!" Ventus called out to Terra,who turned around and saw both Ventus and Josette running down the stairs and they came to a stop in front of him (while they panted and catch their breaths).

"W-We-" stammer Ventus.

"It's okay, you two." said Terra reassuringly to both Ventus and Josette as he placed his hands on their heads to ruffle their hairs a little.

Both Ventus and Josette then lifted their heads to glance up at Terra, who smiled at them before he turned to look away from them (while both Aqua and Beaufort watched the 3 of them silently from the top of the stairs). After Terra turned to look away from them both, he raised his right hand, clench it into a fist before he pressed his fist on the pauldron armor on his left arm, causing a bright light to shine out of his pauldron and enveloped him in the bright light for a few minutes (while causing both Ventus and Josette to cover their eyes with their hands from the bright light) before the light slowly dimmed down to reveal Terra completely covered from his head down to his toe in a dark brown, gold and red-coloured Keyblade armor. Terra then summoned forth his Earthshaker Keyblade, swung and gripped it tightly in his hands for a few seconds before he raised and pointed his Earthshaker Keyblade up in the air above him to cast a beam of light up toward the sky to formed a circular-shaped, dark blue-coloured portal. After Terra created the portal with his Keyblade, he swung and threw his Keyblade high into the air, where it abruptly glowed then change into a large Keyblade Bike Glider before it speed down toward Terra, who crouch down then jumped onto his Keyblade Bike Glider before he rode his Keyblade Bike Glider up toward the portal, away from Ventus and Josette.

"Well, there goes Terra, Ven." said Josette to Ventus as she watched Terra ride then disappear into the portal.

Ventus watched as Terra ride then disappear into the portal before he lowered his head a little, glance at the pauldron armor on his left arm and he pressed the pauldron armor with his right hand, causing another bright light to shine out of his pauldron and enveloped him in the bright light for a few minutes (which caused Josette to covered her eyes from the light for the second time) before the light slowly dimmed down to reveal Ventus completely covered from his head down to his toes in a dark green, gold and red-coloured Keyblade armor.

"Woah…" said Ventus in an awed tone of voice as he glance at the Keyblade armor he's wearing now.

"Ven! What did you just-!?" said Josette in a shocked tone of voice when she opened her eyes and saw Ventus in his Keyblade armor.

"What does it look like, Jo?" said Ventus. "I'm going after Terra!"

"But, Ven…" Josette began to protest to Ventus but before she could say anymore words to him, Ventus summoned, swung and threw his Wayward Wind Keyblade high into the air, where it glowed then change into a Keyblade Waveboard Glider before it speed down toward Ventus, who jumped and landed onto his Keyblade Waveboard Glider and he took off upward to the portal.

" _Oh, Ven. What are you thinking, going after Terra?"_ thought Josette to herself before she glance down at the pauldron armor on her left arm. " _I'm not going to let him go out there alone."_ added Josette firmly in her mind before she raised her right hand and pressed the pauldron, causing a third bright light to shine out of her pauldron, enveloped her in the bright light for a few minutes before the light slowly dimmed down to reveal Josette covered from her head to her toes in a dark orange, gold and black-coloured Keyblade armor. Josette then summoned, swung and threw her Helianthus Keyblade high into the air, where it glowed then change into a Keyblade Waveboard Glider just like Ventus (except that it's dark orange and yellow in colour) before it speed down toward Josette, who jumped and landed onto her Keyblade Glider and she took off into the portal after Ventus.

When both Aqua and Beaufort saw with surprise/shocked looks on their faces that both Ventus and Josette had change into their Keyblade armors before they threw and transform their Keyblades into Gliders, they quickly run down the stairs (while Master Eraqus came out of the castle, saw what happened and he run down the stairs behind both Aqua and Beaufort) to attempt to stop them both but they were a few seconds too late to stop them from leaving.

"Wait, Ven, Jo!" Aqua and Beaufort cried out in unison to both Ventus and Josette as they watched them took off on their Keyblade Waveboard Gliders up toward the portal.

"No! They mustn't, especially Ventus!" said Master Eraqus to both Aqua and Beaufort before he turned to glance at them. "The both of you must hurry and bring them back!"

"Don't worry, Master." said Aqua reassuringly to Master Eraqus.

"We'll hurry and bring Ven and Jo back." said Beaufort reassuringly to Master Eraqus as well before both he and Aqua raised and pressed the pauldrons on their left arms with their right hands to change into their Keyblade armors (which is black, dark blue and silver-coloured for Beaufort, same goes for Aqua). Both Aqua and Beaufort then summoned, swung and threw their Rainfell and Vagos Maestus Keyblades high into the air, where they glowed then transform into a Keyblade Bike Glider for Beaufort and a two-part bow and-platform Glider for Aqua. Both Aqua and Beaufort then jumped and landed on their Keyblade Gliders before they rode and took off up toward the portal and went into it.

XXXX

 **Meanwhile, in another world…**

"You called and wished to see me, grandfather?" asked Kallima after she step into her grandfather's room then stand at attention in front of his desk, staring at him.

"Indeed, Kallima." replied the elderly man named Yen Sid with a small nod of his head to Kallima. "The stars have told me that the princesses of hearts are in grave danger from the forces of darkness and from another new force that called themselves "Unversed". Fledgling emotions that preys and feeds on the negativity of peoples."

"Oh my goodness, grandfather. Are you serious?" said Kallima as a worried look appear on her face.

"Unfortunately so, Kallima. I've already told and warned an old friend of mine named Eraqus about the coming danger and he's decided to sent out 3 of his apprentices to eliminate the Unversed and the forces of darkness while protecting the princesses of hearts and the innocent peoples from them." Yen Sid told Kallima. "That is why I've call for you, Kallima. I want you to head out and helped Eraqus's apprentices in eliminating the forces of the Unversed and the forces of darkness and protect the princesses of hearts and the innocent peoples from them as well."

"I understand, grandfather. I'll leave now and helped Master Eraqus's apprentices in eliminating the Unversed and the forces of darkness before they could hurt the princesses of hearts and the innocent peoples." said Kallima as she nodded her head firmly to her grandfather before she turned around and leave the room.

" _Be careful and good luck to you, Kallima."_ thought Yen Sid silently in his mind before he slowly stood up from his chair, turned around to walked toward the large star-shaped window in his room and he glance down and watched Kallima as she change into her Keyblade armor (which is black, dark green and silver in colour) before she summoned, swung and threw her Keyblade (which is a black and white-coloured Keyblade named New Moon) high up into the air, where it glowed then transform into a Keyblade Chariot Glider before she got onto it and took off.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Enchanted Dominion, part 1**

Inside a large pure green-coloured grassy forest with dozens of tall trees, patches of bushes, wild flowers, small rocky cliffs and a large clear lake in the middle of the forest near a field clearing, everything is peaceful and silent until the field clearing started to shake a little violently (while dozens of leaves on the trees fell and landed on the shaking ground) before an oval-shaped portal of light and lightning formed and appear near one of the bottom of a small cliff on the field clearing and Terra make his way out of the portal of light, still clad in his Keyblade armor. Terra's Keyblade armor then glowed brightly and vanished into thin air as he walked forward and stopped in his tracks near the edge of the field clearing to glance down at the lake in front of him.

Suddenly Terra heard some sounds coming from behind him and as he summoned forth his Earthshaker Keyblade while turning around to see what's behind him, he saw dozens of small, dark blue-coloured creatures emerged out of the ground and surrounds him from almost all sides. "Monsters! The ones the Master mentioned to me, Aqua and Beaufort before we leave. These must be the Unversed." said Terra to himself before he charge toward the swarm of small Floods Unversed and began fighting them.

As Terra started to fight and destroy some of the Floods Unversed with his Keyblade on the field clearing, another oval-shaped portal of light and lightning formed and appear in another part of the forest (which is not far from where Terra and the swarm of Floods Unversed is) before Kallima make her way out of the portal into the forest and stopped in her tracks to lifted her head to look up at the blue sky and at the forest around her before her Keyblade armor glowed brightly then vanished into thin air.

Kallima then heard the sound of someone fighting something coming from her right and she quickly summoned forth her New Moon Keyblade, turned to her right to run toward the field clearing and she soon saw Terra fighting and destroying all of the small Floods Unversed before several different-looking semi-large and large dark blue-coloured Unversed formed and appear in thin air around Terra (which is Scrappers and Bruisers Unversed). When Kallima saw the Scrappers and Bruisers Unversed formed and appear around Terra, she quickly charge toward Terra and the swarm of Scrappers and Bruisers Unversed surrounding him and she swung and slashed down on some of the Scrappers and Bruisers with her Keyblade (while Terra had a surprised look on his face when he saw Kallima suddenly appearing and helped him out in destroying some of the Unversed before he fight and destroy the Unversed with her).

After both Terra and Kallima are done in fighting and destroying the swarm of Scrappers and Bruisers Unversed on the field clearing around them, Terra then turned to glance at Kallima. "Who are you and why do you have a Keyblade?" Terra asked Kallima as he glance down at the Keyblade she hold in her right hand.

"My name is Kallima, one of Master Yen Sid apprentices. He sent me out to helped apprentices of Master Eraqus's in eliminating these Unversed creatures and the forces of darkness before they could hurt the princesses of hearts and the innocent peoples." Kallima told and explain to Terra. "Now that I've told and explain to you who I am, it's my turn to ask you a question now. Are you one of Master Eraqus's apprentices?" Kallima asked Terra.

"That's right, I am. My name's Terra. It's nice to meet you, Kallima. And I'm sorry for my rude question to you earlier." said Terra before he hold out his left hand to Kallima for an apologetic handshake. Kallima glance down at his outstretch left hand for a few seconds before she hold out and placed her left hand in his and they shake hands.

"Nice to meet you too, Terra. And I accept your apology." said Kallima kindly to Terra before both she and Terra ceased shaking hands and pull their hands back. Both Terra and Kallima then noticed 2 Floods Unversed fleeing away from them deep into the forest out of the corners of their eyes.

"Oh no, you two don't!" said Terra as he and Kallima turned and run after the 2 Floods Unversed. Both Terra and Kallima chased after the 2 Floods Unversed out of the forest and onto a long grey-coloured bridge before they jumped, raised and swung their Keyblades down on the 2 Floods Unversed and destroyed them. After both Terra and Kallima destroyed the 2 Floods Unversed, they stood up, lifted their heads to look up and they saw a large white-coloured, blue roof castle standing at the distance end of the bridge in front of them.

Both Terra and Kallima then lowered their heads to look away from the castle and they saw the back figure of a tall and thin-looking woman wearing a long black-coloured robe from the top of her head (which also had 2 black horns on it) down to her toes, holding a long wooden staff with a circular-shaped pale green-coloured orb at the top of the staff in her left hand (with a single black stone, golden ring on her finger) as she stands on the bridge a few feet in front of them, staring at the large castle as well. Both Terra and Kallima dismissed their Keyblades and approach the black robe woman, who slowly turned around to glance at them when she heard the sound of their approaching footsteps (and they saw that her face is pale and greenish in colour with pale yellow eyes and red lips).

"What's this… Why aren't you two asleep?" said the black robe woman in a feign surprise tone of voice to Terra and Kallima (who stopped in their tracks in front of her). "That fool Flora cast a spell to put everyone in this castle into a deep, deep slumber."

"Who are you?" Terra asked the black robe woman.

"Why, I am Maleficent… as all who dwell in this kingdom would know." said the black robe woman after she introduced herself to Terra and Kallima. "Now you must reciprocate the introductions. Who are you two?"

"I'm Terra." said Terra as he introduced himself to Maleficent, who nodded before she glance at Kallima.

"And I'm Kallima." said Kallima. "Do you know anything about those monsters- the ones who appeared and attacked me and Terra in the forest?" Kallima asked Maleficent, who turned to her right to look away from them, walked forward and stopped in her tracks near the edge of the bridge to look at the distant fields, mountains and sky.

"Hmph. Now why would I give a thought to creatures so base… so inconsequential?" said Maleficent.

Terra snorted in agreement. "They are base, that's for sure." said Terra before he asked Maleficent another question. "Anyway, I'm looking for someone. Ever heard of a man named Xehanort?"

" _He's looking for Master Xehanort, another old friend of my grandfather and Master Eraqus? But why?"_ thought Kallima as she glance at Terra with a confused look on her face.

"That name is not familiar to me. Is he an outsider, like the 2 of you?" said Maleficent before she trailed off into silence to think back about something then she turned around to glance back at them. "Oh, but wait… I do remember seeing someone leaving the castle." Maleficent told them both.

"Could it be Master Xehanort? Tell me, what was he doing there?" demanded Terra.

"I couldn't say… I can only be certain that he was not from this kingdom." said Maleficent in a feigned sad tone of voice to Terra, who sighed and lowered his head in dismay. "If you're curious, go into the castle and see for yourself. There- the entrance is past this bridge." Maleficent told Terra as she turned to glance at the castle, same goes for Terra and Kallima.

"Thanks." said Terra as he run down the bridge toward the castle, with Kallima running and following closely behind him.

"Perhaps he did speak, about imprisoning "the light"…" said Maleficent suddenly to both Terra and Kallima (who instantly had a suspicious feeling brewing in her mind and heart about Maleficent), who stopped running and turned around to glance back at her.

"What do you mean by that, Maleficent?" asked Kallima suspiciously at Maleficent.

"The light" could be so many things. Could he have meant Princess Aurora?" replied Maleficent, ignoring Kallima's words.

"Princess Aurora…" said both Terra and Kallima to themselves before they resumed running down the bridge toward the castle without looking back and they didn't see bright, greenish-yellow coloured flames appeared and enveloped Maleficent before both she and the flames vanished into thin air.

Both Terra and Kallima run until they reached the end of the bridge, arrived in front of the castle's entrance before they opened the door and went into the castle. Once Terra and Kallima are inside the castle, they look around and saw that they're standing inside a large and empty multi-coloured audience/throne room which had 2 tall-looking golden-coloured throne chairs far in front of them against the wall at the other end of the room. Both Terra and Kallima then noticed a staircase to their right near the wall which leads further up into the castle and they approach and walked up the staircase, walked down a hallway then they walked up and walked down several more staircases and hallways (while fighting off some Floods, Scrappers, Bruisers, Thornbites and Red Hot Chili Unverseds along the way) until they arrived in front of a door completely sealed and enveloped with a kind of black and purple-coloured aura of darkness which prevented anyone from entering the room at one of the very top tower of the castle. Both Terra and Kallima glance and nodded to each other before they jumped back from the sealed door, summoned forth and pointed their Keyblades at the sealed door to shot two bright beams of lights at the black and purple-coloured aura of darkness to dispel it away.

After both Terra and Kallima uses their Keyblades to dispel the black and purple-coloured aura of darkness away from the door, they went into the room and saw that the room is quite large and multi-coloured with a rectangular, green cloth table with some unlit candles and a small weighing scale standing on it, a wooden cabinet standing next to the table while the table and the cabinet leaned against the wall to their right, an empty fireplace in the corner of the room with a secret opened door inside leading up into another tower room and a small mirror/make-up table leaning against another wall near the fireplace. Both Terra and Kallima then turned to their left and they saw a very beautiful, fair-skinned, long blonde-haired woman wearing a long-sleeve blue-coloured dress is sleeping deeply on a large, blue-coloured single-sized bed with a dark blue-coloured blanket with spiral golden patterns on it covering over her, a large purple-coloured curtain with the same spiral golden-coloured patterns on it partially surrounds her and the bed she's lying on and they both felt the warm, kind and familiar feeling of light emanating out from within her.

"Do you sense it, Terra? The warm and kind feeling of light from within her?" Kallima asked Terra. " _Which must mean that this girl is one of the princesses of hearts."_ thought Kallima silently in her mind.

"Yeah, I can feel it, Kallima. It doesn't just feel warm and kind, it also feels familiar…" replied Terra.

"Yes, the both of you are right about it. Her heart is filled with light, not the slightest touch of darkness." said Maleficent suddenly from behind Terra and Kallima and they immediately turned around to glance at her when they heard her voice. "… Just the kind of heart I need."

"For what?" asked Terra.

"Why do you need her heart for, Maleficent?" asked Kallima.

"Just imagine with me, the most glorious of futures… the both of you." replied Maleficent. "Seven of the purest hearts, each overflowing with light. When collected and brought together, they grant the power to rule over all worlds."

"What do you mean by that?" said Terra, not understanding what Maleficent meant.

"Oh my god, isn't it obvious, Terra? She wanted us to plunder, gathered and brought these seven purest hearts of light and hand them over to her so she could have the power to rule over all worlds." Kallima said/explain to Terra in a slightly frustrated and grim tone of voice.

"Precisely, the girl is correct. Why, those large keys that you two hold… The Keyblade, is it called?" Maleficent asked them both.

Both Terra and Kallima gasped in surprise/shocked when they heard Maleficent uttered the "Keyblade" word and they quickly summoned forth their Keyblades.

"Where did you learn that name?" Terra asked Maleficent.

"Those trinkets that you two have is the only way to obtain the hearts." said Maleficent as she ignored Terra's question.

"That's enough of your word games already, Maleficent!" snapped Kallima.

"Where is Master Xehanort?" demanded Terra.

"Impudence will get the 2 of you nowhere, young ones." said Maleficent coldly at Terra and Kallima. "If the two of you wish to learn more, either one of you must retrieve the heart of Aurora."

"And why would we ever want to do that?" snapped Terra.

"It's not a matter of "why", but of will." said Maleficent before she smiled evilly at Terra then the pale green orb on her staff started to glowed bright green and as she waved her right hand over the glowing orb, her body started to glowed bright green as well. "In your heart, there is darkness just waiting to be awakened."

As both the orb and Maleficent herself started to glowed bright green, Terra started to struggle and grunted in pain as his body started to glowed bright green as well. "I don't know what you're talking about." said Terra in denial at Maleficent's words.

"Terra, what's wrong?" said Kallima as she glance at Terra worriedly.

"Perhaps not yet… But I have power over sleep." said Maleficent. "And I can awaken what's inside you…Then you will be free to be who you truly are."

Kallima gasped when she saw and realised what Maleficent is doing to Terra and she quickly dismissed her Keyblade, approach and placed her hands on Terra's shoulders. "Terra, listen to me! You must fight and snap out of whatever dark magic she's casting on you to awaken the darkness within you! You mustn't give in!" Kallima told Terra worriedly.

"Stay out of this, you meddlesome girl!" snapped Maleficent as she briefly waved her left hand at Kallima to forcefully yanked her away from Terra before Maleficent created a barrier of greenish-yellow coloured flames around Kallima.

"No, you can't do this to him, Maleficent!" protested Kallima.

"I can and I just did, meddlesome girl." said Maleficent coldly at Kallima. "Now stand there and watched the show."

Kallima glared angrily at Maleficent through the barrier of flames around her before she turned to glance sadly and helplessly at Terra as he continue to struggle and grunted in pain against Maleficent's dark magic on him to awaken the darkness within him until the darkness eventually overtook him and he started to hear his Master's words echoing in his mind.

XXXX

" _Remember that darkness lurks in every heart."_

" _Darkness is our foe."_

" _Would that we could be rid of it."_

" _You must destroy it."_

" _Push the darkness down- give it no quarter in your heart."_

XXXX

Eventually Terra ceased struggling, fell silent and slumped his body down a little before he slowly straighten his body, lifted his head and opened his eyes, which now had a pale and blank look in them (and which make Kallima gasped for the second time). Terra then turned around to glance down at Princess Aurora, raised his Keyblade above Princess Aurora before a bright light appear and glowed at the tip of his Keyblade. A few seconds later, a bright circular orb of light appear and floated out of Princess Aurora's body and flew straight toward Maleficent's outstretched hands before she surrounds it with greenish-yellow flames.

"Here it is… Just what I've waited for." said Maleficent as she chuckled and glance happily at the floating orb of light in her hands.

"No! That light isn't yours to take and keep, Maleficent!" Kallima cried out at Maleficent, who ignored her before she heard a gasp and a deep intake of breath and she glance at Terra and saw that he's snapped out of Maleficent's dark magic and the darkness within him (while the barrier of flames around her dimmed down then vanished into thin air).

"To think that all he spoke of was and will be true." said Maleficent to herself before she put the orb of light safely within her black robe while Kallima approach both Terra and Princess Aurora.

"What? How did I…?" said Terra to himself before he glance down at Princess Aurora and gasped in shock before he immediately turned around to glance at Maleficent. "What did I just do? What did YOU do to me?" demanded Terra.

"You speak as if I pulled some invisible strings." said Maleficent as she turned to glance at Terra and Kallima. "No, you couldn't be further from the truth. I simply whispered to the darkness that you already held inside you."

"How could I do this to her?" said Terra as he turned back and glance sadly down at Princess Aurora while Kallima just watched him sadly. As he did, he saw a brief vision of Ventus lying on his back on the bed in a deep sleep like Princess Aurora.

"Ven?" exclaim Terra.

"Yes… Now you want to know where Xehanort went." said Maleficent as she slowly approach Terra and Kallima, who turned around to glance at her. "Well, that I cannot answer. He disappeared into the darkness. But now I know that the Keyblades which you two have is a necessary weapon to gather hearts. Join me, you two. Collect six more hearts of pure light. Then we will rule all the worlds together."

"No! We refused!" Kallima snarled angrily at Maleficent.

"Kallima's right, Maleficent." said Terra as he glared at Maleficent. "You seem to be mixed up. We're peacekeepers, not tyrants!"

Both Terra and Kallima then summoned forth their Keyblades in preparation to fight Maleficent and take back the orb of light that she kept inside her black robe. But before both Terra and Kallima could do so, they felt the castle suddenly started to shake violently around them and they struggle to maintain their balance while Maleficent isn't completely bothered by the sudden violent shaking of the castle.

"Hmph… For peacekeepers, the both of you are off to an exceptionally poor start." said Maleficent coldly at Terra and Kallima. "Remember this-the darkness cannot be held back by force or strength. Now… my work here is done, as is yours. Wasn't there someone that you needed to find and chase?" Maleficent told Terra and Kallima before she started to enveloped herself in green flames.

"Wait!" said Terra.

"Give back Princess Aurora's heart!" said Kallima.

Both Terra and Kallima charged, jumped and swung their Keyblades down on Maleficent but before their Keyblades could touched her, she immediately vanished into thin air while laughing loudly at them. Both Terra and Kallima then stood up and glance around the room for any sign of Maleficent before they felt another violent shake of the castle.

"The Unversed! They're gonna bring down the castle! We've to do something!" said Terra worriedly to Kallima.

"Right! Come on, Terra!" said Kallima worriedly to Terra (who nodded to her) before they turned around and run out of Princess Aurora's room, run down the series of hallways and staircases until they arrived and reached the audience/throne room in the castle.

Once Terra and Kallima are back inside the audience/throne room, they saw a large crimson, black and yellow-coloured spindle-wheel Unversed (named Wheel Master) standing in the middle of the room in front of them. Both Terra and Kallima immediately raised their Keyblades, charge toward Wheel Master and they strike and slash down on Wheel Master several times with their Keyblades. The Wheel Master isn't amused by their attacks and it immediately snared both Terra and Kallima bodies tightly in its yellow thread to prevent them from attacking it.

Both Terra and Kallima struggle to free themselves from the tight yellow threads wrapped tightly around their bodies until they managed to break themselves free from the tight yellow threads, causing the Wheel Master to stagger back in a daze a little before it swung its arms swiftly at Terra and Kallima and knocked them both hard and away from it. They landed hard on the ground, groaned in pain from Wheel Master's swinging arm attack a little before Kallima raised her New Moon Keyblade above her and Terra to casted Cure magic on them to healed their bruise wounds. After Kallima's done in healing their bruise wounds, they stood up and Terra jumped and raised his Earthshaker Keyblade above him to give a hard downward strike on Wheel Master while Kallima hold her New Moon Keyblade out in front of her to cast and launch multiple Fire magic at it.

The Wheel Master is even more not amused by Terra and Kallima attacking and injuring it even more and it's body started to glowed with a dark red aura of anger before it raised it's body high up into the air then it started to charge and gallop swiftly toward Kallima first and rammed her head on, causing her to cried out in pain and sending her flying far from it before she landed hard on her back on the floor and her Keyblade disappear into thin air.

"Kallima!" yelled Terra in worry/horror when he saw Wheel Master charging and ramming against Kallima before he quickly dodged to his left when he saw Wheel Master turning and charging/galloping straight toward him to knocked him out and it crashed head on against a nearby wall and fell stunned to the floor. Seeing that the Wheel Master is stunned from crashing head on against the wall, Terra charge toward Wheel Master and he proceed to strike down on it multiple times with his Keyblade before he jumped and raised his Keyblade to give Wheel Master another hard downward strike on it to finish it off.

After Terra finished off the Wheel Master Unversed, he dismissed his Keyblade, turned around and run toward Kallima to cast Cure on her to healed her wound (which she thanked him for it) before he helped lifted her up from the floor and they slowly walked back up the series of hallways and staircases and head back into Princess Aurora's room.

"It's my fault that her heart was stolen. It was because I was weak… I'm sorry." said Terra as he glance sadly down at Princess Aurora.

"You're not the only one at fault here, Terra. So do I." said Kallima sadly to Terra. "I could have stop and snap you out of Maleficent's dark magic and from the darkness within you but she prevented me from doing so."

"I know, Kallima." said Terra as he turned to glance at her. "We'll get her light back, once I've learn to stand up against the darkness."

Kallima nodded to him before they leave Princess Aurora's room, walked down the series of hallways and staircases, leave the castle and walked on the long bridge.

" _Why would Master Xehanort wanted to imprison the light? The purest hearts of light- do they hold the answer?"_ thought Terra to himself as he and Kallima continue to walked down then started to run down the bridge toward the forest.

Inside a small, empty room in one of the highest tower of the castle, Maleficent watched Terra and Kallima leave the castle through an opened window. "Seven pure hearts of light, each completely void of darkness… Such a search may take some time." said Maleficent to herself before she turned away from the window, enveloped herself in green flames and vanished into thin air from the small, empty room.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Enchanted Dominion, part 2**

Not long after both Terra and Kallima leave the castle and run down the bridge toward the forest, an oval-shaped portal of light and lightning formed and appear in front of the left wall of the large audience/throne room inside the castle before both Ventus and Josette make their way out of the portal of light, stopped in their tracks and lifted their heads to glance in silent awed at the large audience/throne room around them (while their Keyblade armors glowed brightly then vanished into thin air).

"Woah, this room is quite huge and colourful, even more so than the throne room of our home. Don't you think so, Ven?" Josette asked Ventus in a slightly excited tone of voice.

"Yeah, I agreed with you, Jo." replied Ventus before he noticed a staircase on the opposite side of the room in front of him and Josette and he walked toward the staircase. "Come on, Jo. Let's go up and see if Terra's upstairs or not." Ventus told Josette without looking back.

"Alright, Ven." said Josette before she followed behind him.

Both Ventus and Josette went up the stairs, walked down several series of hallways and staircases (and summoned forth their Wayward Wind and Helianthus Keyblades to fight and destroy the Floods, Scrappers, Bruisers, Thornbites and Red Hot Chili that formed and appear in front of them) until they reached and walked down the final hallway at the top of one of the tower.

"Where could Terra be? We've search in every rooms of this castle and we didn't see or find any hair or shadow of him anywhere." said Ventus to Josette, starting to feel down as they walked on.

"I'm sure we find and see him soon enough, Ven. Don't you start to feel down about it." said Josette in a reassuring tone of voice to Ventus before they stopped in their tracks at the end of the hallway, noticed the door to their left and they opened and went into the room. Once both Ventus and Josette are inside and look around the room, they then noticed Princess Aurora sleeping quietly on the bed to their left and they turned and tiptoe their way close to her to see her while trying not to wake her up.

"Woah, she's…" Ventus began saying.

"Stop! You two get away from her!" a woman's voice suddenly cried out (and cut off Ventus's words) from behind both Ventus and Josette, who gasped and jumped in surprise at the woman's voice behind them before they quickly turned around to see who is it and they saw 3 short black and grey-haired elderly women (who had angry looks on their faces) wearing long-sleeves red, green and blue-coloured dresses with matching capes over their shoulders and behind their backs, matching triangular-shaped coloured hats over their heads and they hold wands in their right hands.

"Wha- Oh, we're sorry. It's just that, we've never seen anyone so beautiful before." said Ventus in an apologetic tone of voice to the 3 elderly women while he raised his right hand to scratch the side of his head and approach the 3 elderly women (and also didn't noticed the sad/frown look on Josette's face when she heard Ventus calling the currently slumbering Princess Aurora beautiful before she shrugged her sad/frown look away).

The middle red-dressed, elderly woman began to flapped the tiny wings behind her back, flew up and flew toward and around both Ventus and Josette (who realised that the 3 elderly women are fairies), inspecting them from their heads down to their toes. "Who are you two?" the red-dressed, elderly fairy woman asked Ventus and Josette.

"I'm Ventus. But you can call me Ven. And this girl here is one of my close friends, Jo, I mean, Josette." said Ventus as he introduced himself and Josette to the red-dressed, elderly fairy woman.

"Hello, nice to meet you three." said Josette as she briefly raised and waved her right hand at the 3 elderly fairy women.

"Nice to meet you two, Ventus, Josette. I'm Flora and these 2 are my close friends, Fauna and Merryweather." said the red-dressed, elderly fairy woman named Flora as she introduced herself and the other 2 elderly fairy women to Ventus and Josette.

"Oh… the two of you don't seem like bad peoples, my dears." said the green-dressed, elderly woman named Fauna to Ventus and Josette before she smiled at them. "I'm certain that the both of you have pure hearts, just like our precious Aurora."

"So her name is Aurora, huh?" said Josette as she glance over her right shoulder at the sleeping princess.

"Yes, that's right." said Fauna.

"Can you three tell us why she's sleeping?" Ventus asked the 3 fairies as he glance over his right shoulder at the sleeping princess.

"Long ago, an evil witch named Maleficent placed a curse on her, now she's stolen her heart." replied Flora sadly to Ventus.

"Her heart was stolen by this Maleficent witch?" said Josette as a sad/worry look appear on her face. "How and when did that happen?"

"It happened when we left the castle to search for Prince Philip. If only we knew earlier that Maleficent would come to stole her heart, we wouldn't have leave her alone." said Flora sadly to Josette while Ventus crossed his arms over his chest to think if there's anything both he and Josette can do to help and he thought of one.

"Hmmm… Well then, why don't Jo and I go and get her heart back for her?" Ventus told the 3 fairies.

"What? You two will?" said Merryweather to Ventus and Josette with a surprise look on her face.

"Yeah, we will." said Josette as she nodded her head in agreement at Ventus's words.

"But that's impossible, my dears." said Fauna worriedly to both Ventus and Josette. "Maleficent's home is through the forest in the Forbidden Mountains. It's not safe there."

"Don't worry, we're not afraid. We can't just leave Aurora like this. We can help. You 3 gotta believe us." said Ventus firmly to the 3 fairies.

"Yeah, Ventus's right. So let's head to the Forbidden Mountains now to retrieve her heart." said Josette.

Flora, Fauna and Merryweather glance away from Ventus and Josette, exchange silent and worry looks with each other before a confident look appear and replaced the silent/worry look on Flora's face before she glance back at them. "You know, you two are absolutely right. Come along and follow us now, you two." said Flora. "After all, we wouldn't want the two of you to get lost."

Both Ventus and Josette nodded to Flora before they turned and followed behind the 3 fairies out of Princess Aurora's room, walked down the series of hallways and staircases back into the large audience/throne room. The 2 keyblade wielders and 3 fairies then walked out of the castle, walked down the bridge and walked deep into the forest (and they fought some more Floods, Scrappers, Bruisers, Thornbites and Red Hot Chili Unverseds along the way) until they reached and stopped in their tracks in front of a large magic wall of bright green flames and dark purple thorns.

"Looks like we're stuck." said Ventus as he raised and crossed his arms over his chest.

"This Maleficent must have put up this magic wall of flames and thorns to prevent anyone from entering the Forbidden Mountains." said Josette.

"You're right, young girl. This magic wall is her doing." said Flora in agreement to Josette's words.

"I know." said Fauna before she flew a little closer toward the magic wall of flames and thorns, wave and cast a small beam of light at the magic wall and causing it to disappear into thin air. "Shall we?" said Fauna as she turned to glance at Flora, Merryweather, Ventus and Josette and they nodded to her before all 5 of them continue down the forest toward the Forbidden Mountains.

As they walked forward and entered the Forbidden Mountains (which turns out to be a very dark and barren-looking place completely unlike the lush/lively large green forest that they just left) then walked up the long zig-zagging rocky path toward the large, dark, dreary and ominous-looking castle at the end of the pathway and they went into the dark castle. Once Ventus, Josette, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather step into the dark castle, walked into several large and empty rooms and walked down a few series of dark hallways, they arrived inside a large, dark circular-shaped throne room and they saw 1 short bird guard (who's wearing a short sleeve brown-coloured shirt on its body and a long black scarf wrapped around its head with a small bag filled with arrows behind its back and holding a bow weapon in it's left feathery hand) and 1 short pig guard (who's also wearing a short sleeve brown-coloured shirt on it's body with a black helmet over it's head and holding a long black spear in it's right hand) standing left and right near a short staircase leading up into an opened door above and behind them.

"What are those things?" Josette asked the 3 fairies behind her and Ventus about the 2 bird and pig guards.

"Those are some of Maleficent's goons. Be careful." Flora warned Ventus and Josette.

"Well, they ain't guardin' nothing. Shall we, Jo?" said Ventus to Josette as he summoned forth his Wayward Wind Keyblade.

"Of course, after you, Ven." said Josette to Ventus as she summoned forth her Helianthus Keyblade as well before they run down the short stairs toward the bird (who closed it's yellow eyes and raised it's right hand near it's beak to let out a yawn) and pig guards and away from the 3 fairies.

"Ten-shun!" Ventus yelled at the 2 guards (who jumped in surprise when they heard Ventus suddenly yelling at them) as he and Josette run and stopped in front of them.

"You guys won't get any pensions or salaries if you 2 sleep while on guarding duties!" said Josette sarcastically to the 2 guards before she smirked at them and the bird guard immediately pull an arrow out from the bag behind it, placed it in it's bow and shoot the arrow at Josette (who raised and swung her Keyblade down on the incoming arrow and cut it off before she charge toward the bird guard and get rid of it) while the pig guard charge and raised it's long spear weapon at Ventus, intending to impaled the spear through his stomach but Ventus jumped over and landed behind the pig guard before he turned around, raised and swung his Keyblade down on the pig guard and get rid of it.

After both Ventus and Josette got rid of the 2 guards, they suddenly heard the sounds of running footsteps coming toward them from the opened door near the short stairs in front of them and as they glance at the door, they saw that dozens more of the same bird and pig guards are charging out of the door before they run down the stairs and surrounds both Ventus and Josette (who stood back to back with each other while raising their Keyblades in front of them).

Both Ventus and Josette and the swarm of bird and pig guards charge and fought against each other for the next few minutes until both Ventus and Josette managed to defeat/get rid of the swarm of bird and pig guards, dismissed their Keyblades and rejoined the 3 fairies before all 5 of them turned and walked up the short stairs toward the opened door (which the swarm of bird and pig guards just run out from), went through it and they found themselves inside a large and dark room filled with dozens of swirling colourful flames in different parts of the floor.

As Ventus, Josette, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather step into the large and dark room filled with dozens of swirling colourful flames, tall, large and dark walls suddenly appear and rose up from the floor around them, making they realised that the room they just step into isn't just a large room filled with swirling flames but also a maze-like room. It took all 5 of them quite a while to traverse their way through the maze-like, swirling flames room without getting very confused and lost (and also fight and defeat some more bird and pig guards that appear in some parts of the room) until they finally managed to reached and stopped in front of a small and narrow rocky podium where they could see a floating white orb imprisoned inside a tall bright green-coloured pillar of flames which stands in the middle of the podium.

Both Ventus and Josette then glance and nodded silently to each other before they glance back at the green pillar of flames imprisoning the floating white orb within, summoned forth, raised and pointed their Keyblades at the pillar of flames to shot 2 beam of lights at the pillar of flames to dispel it (while Flora, Fauna and Merryweather watched them in silence). After they dispel the flames around the floating white orb, the floating white orb then flew swiftly forward out of the room and away from the 2 Keyblade wielders and 3 fairies.

"That should do it. Come on, Jo." said Ventus before he glance at Josette.

"Right, Ven." said Josette as she nodded to Ventus but as they turned around and was about to leave the room with the 3 fairies, they stopped walking when a bright flash of light suddenly appear and enveloped them out of nowhere, causing them to closed their eyes and they soon saw a vision of a tall and handsome-looking, slightly tan-skinned, short brown-haired, warm brown-eyed young man wearing a long sleeve black shirt with a light brown sleeveless shirt over his black shirt with a black belt tied over his waist, long brown pants and short brown boots is standing with Princess Aurora (who's wearing a long sleeve light grey shirt with a black corset top over her shirt and long dark brown skirt (instead of the long sleeve blue dress she wear when she's sleeping in her room in the castle) on her body) on the field clearing near the lake inside the forest.

XXXX

" _Don't you remember, fair maiden? We've met before." the short brown-haired man told Aurora as he glance and smiled at her._

" _W…We have?" said Aurora as she glance at him with nervous/uneasy look on her face._

" _Why yes, you said so yourself-Once upon a dream." the short brown-haired man told Aurora, who turned to glance away from him then glance back and smiled at him before they walked toward then leaned their backs against a low and thick branch of a huge tree, staring at the lake together._

" _I never thought that I would meet you-outside of my dreams, that is." Aurora told the man as she lowered and leaned her head down on his right shoulder._

" _Who are you? What's your name, milady?" the man asked Aurora._

" _Hmmm? Oh, my name… Why, it's…" said Aurora as she lifted her head away from the brown-haired man's shoulder to glance up at him (while he glance down at her) before a worry/anxious look appear on her face and she slowly moved away from him. "Oh. Oh no. I can't. Good-bye." Aurora bade farewell to the man before she lifted her long skirt with her hands and started to walked swiftly away from him._

" _I must see you!" the man told Aurora (who briefly stop to glance over her left shoulder at him before she resumed walking away from him)._

" _I don't know, maybe someday." Aurora told the man without looking back._

" _When? Tomorrow?" the man asked her._

" _Oh no, this evening!" replied Aurora as she stopped and turned to glance at him. "At the cottage, in the glen." Aurora added to the man before she turned and walked swiftly away from him into the forest._

XXXX

The bright flash of light that had enveloped and showed both Ventus and Josette the short vision of Aurora and the man meeting each other in the forest slowly fade away and both Ventus and Josette opened their eyes before they glance at each other with confusion looks on their faces.

"What was that just now, Jo?" Ventus asked Josette.

"I've no idea, Ven." replied Josette.

"What you two just saw was a part of Aurora's memory." Flora told and answered Ventus and Josette.

"Really? Then that means she's gotten heart back?" asked Josette.

"Yes, exactly, my dear girl. And it's all thanks to you and the young man standing next to you for freeing and returning her heart back to her." said Fauna thankfully to Josette.

"Oh, uh… you're welcome." said Josette to Fauna as she raised and scratch the back of her head in embarrassment.

"So her dream came true!" said Ventus, smiling at the 3 fairies.

"Yes, not long ago." said Flora. "Dreams are very strong beliefs. Aurora's dream led her to her true love."

"I see that you two hold strong beliefs, too. Don't you, my dears?" Fauna asked Ventus and Josette.

"Yup." Replied Ventus as he and Josette nodded their heads in agreement to Fauna's words.

"Not only that, the both of you also have strong lights shining within your hearts." Flora told Ventus and Josette.

" _We have, huh?"_ thought Josette silently to herself while Ventus crossed his arms over his chest in silence.

"All right. Hurry, we can't stay here any longer!" said Merryweather worriedly/anxiously to Flora, Fauna, Ventus and Josette and all 4 of them nodded to her before they turned and began to walked swiftly forward out of the large room.

XXXX

 **A few minutes later…**

After Ventus, Josette, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather walked out of the large swirling flames, maze-like room and head back into the large circular dark throne room where they fought the swarm of bird and pig guards a few minutes ago, all 5 of them immediately stopped in their tracks when they saw a tall, black robe woman holding a long wooden staff with a circular green orb on it as she stands with her back to them in the middle of her throne room.

"Someone has just released Aurora's heart. Tell me, young ones, was it you two?" said the tall, black robe woman calmly and coldly to them before she slowly turned around to glance at them.

"Maleficent!" exclaimed Flora, Fauna and Merryweather with surprised/shocked looks on their faces.

"So you're Maleficent!" said Josette as she glared at Maleficent while she summoned forth her Helianthus Keyblade. "And yes, we're the ones who released her heart! So what about it?"

"Josette's right! And only because you stole it in the first place!" said Ventus as he summoned forth his Wayward Wind Keyblade before both he and Josette began charging down the short stairs toward Maleficent, jumped and raised their Keyblades above them in preparation to strike down on her. But before their Keyblades could touch Maleficent, she raised both of her arms and wooden staff up above her, enveloped herself in green flames and vanished into thin air. Both Ventus and Josette landed on the spot where Maleficent is standing previously and they look around the throne room for her.

"Two more Keyblades… that means you two must be Ventus and Josette." said Maleficent's voice from the top of the staircase to their left and they immediately turned and glance up at her.

"Huh? How do you know about us… and the Keyblades we have?" asked Ventus in a shocked tone of voice to Maleficent.

"My powers ensure I'd know of the key weapons to bringing me hearts." replied Maleficent before she smiled smugly at Ventus and Josette. "Terra gave me a demonstration earlier."

"Terra did?" gasped Josette.

"Terra? He was here?" gasped Ventus as well.

"Why, yes. In fact, it was he who stole Princess Aurora's heart and gave her heart to me." said Maleficent as she continue to smiled smugly at them.

"That's a lie!" yelled Ventus angrily at Maleficent before both he and Josette swing their Keyblades a little to prepared themselves for a fight.

"I was asked to leave you unharmed… but it seems I have no choice!" Maleficent snapped at Ventus and Josette before she spread both of her arms out and began casting/hurling several bolts of lightning magic attack down on Ventus and Josette, who quickly split up, dodged and rolled out of the way of her lightning attacks (while the 3 fairies wave their wands on themselves to transform themselves into 3 small flickers of lights before they floated toward and stay near Ventus and Josette to aid them) before they stopped dodging/rolling around the throne room when Maleficent ceased casting/hurling her lightning magic attacks at them, raised and pointed their Keyblades at Maleficent to casted several series of Fire and Blizzard magic attacks to injured her.

Maleficent was quite annoyed at Ventus and Josette for attacking and injuring her with their Fire and Blizzard magic attacks before she casted/hurled some more bolts of lightning magic attacks at them, causing them to ceased their magic attacks on her to dodged and rolled out of the way of her lightning attack before Maleficent began to appear and disappear in different spots of her throne room to confused them both while resuming casting/hurling some more bolts of lightning magic attacks at them before she disappear then appear in the middle of the throne room, raised her long wooden staff in the air above her and the green orb on her staff started to glowed brightly in preparation for another different magic attack.

"Hold on, you two! We'll help!" said the small yet familiar voices of Flora, Fauna and Merryweather out from the 3 small flickers of lights floating nearby Ventus and Josette and they nodded silently to the 3 small lights before they raised their Keyblades up above them in the air and 2 bright ball of lights started to formed and gathered at the tips of their Keyblades. Once the 2 bright balls of lights are big enough, both Ventus and Josette drew their Keyblades back then swung their Keyblades swiftly forward to hurled the 2 bright balls of lights toward Maleficent first before she could cast her next magic attack on them.

The 2 bright balls of lights struck head-on at Maleficent's face and chest, causing her to cried out in shock and pain from the impact before she lowered her wooden staff, lowered her head and began to fall asleep while standing. Both Ventus and Josette then took advantage of her falling asleep to casted several more series of Fire and Blizzard magic attack to injured her even further until they managed to defeated her together.

After Ventus and Josette defeated Maleficent (and after some help from the 3 fairies), they watched as Maleficent stagger weakly up the stairs while panting and breathing heavily.

"There's no way that Terra would hurt Aurora like that! What more to say stole her heart!" Ventus yelled at Maleficent.

"That's right, witch! So stop trying to fool us both with your lies about Terra already!" snapped Josette.

"You two really don't believe me?" said Maleficent in a weak and feigned sad tone of voice to Ventus and Josette. "That's unfortunate for you two, for he agreed so easily."

"He… really did?" said Ventus as he lowered his head to look down at the floor.

"Ven, don't listen to anymore of her lying words." Josette told Ventus firmly.

"Ven, Jo! Don't be fooled by her lies!" a familiar girl's voice suddenly called out to both Ventus and Josette and as they turned to look at the direction of the familiar girl's voice, they saw both Aqua and Beaufort running/approaching toward them both while holding their Rainfell and Vagos Maestus Keyblades in their hands.

"Aqua! Beau!" exclaimed Josette with a happy look on her face when she and Ventus saw them both.

"Hey, you two." said Beaufort to Ventus and Josette as he and Aqua stopped in their tracks near them both.

"Terra would never do that, Ven, Jo. The both of you know that as well as me and Beaufort do." Aqua told Ventus and Josette.

"Yeah… you're right, Aqua." said Ventus as he lifted his head and smiled faintly at Aqua.

"Ahhh… the truth can be most cruel, even amongst the closest of friends like the 4 of you." said Maleficent as she glance down at Ventus, Josette, Aqua and Beaufort. "After all, one will never knows the entire secrets of another person's heart. I'm sure all 4 of you'll agree, Ventus… Josette… Aqua….Beaufort."

Ventus, Josette, Aqua and Beaufort glared in silent anger at Maleficent before both Aqua and Beaufort decided to ignore and look away from her and glance at Ventus and Josette.

"Ven, Jo, Master Eraqus sent us to come after you two." Beaufort told Ventus and Josette (while Aqua nodded her head in silent agreement at Beaufort's words) before both he and Aqua hold out their hands to them.

"Ven, Jo, come home with us." said Aqua.

"But Terra…" said both Ventus and Josette in unison as they turned their heads to look away from Aqua and Beaufort.

"Terra's not ready to leave yet, Ven." Aqua told Ventus and Josette calmly yet firmly.

As both Ventus and Josette think deeply and silently about Aqua and Beaufort's words, a flashback of what the helmet guy said to Ventus inside his room back in his home went through his mind.

XXXX

" _Like right now? He's leaving you and the others behind. And by the time any of you catch up to him, he'll be a different person."_

 _XXXX_

"I'm sorry, Aqua, Beaufort." said Ventus in an apologetic tone of voice to them while he shook his head a little. "But I can't go home with you two."

"What?" said Aqua with a shocked look on her face.

"Why not, Ven?" said Beaufort, shocked as well.

"It's just that… I have to find him before it's too late!" Ventus told Aqua and Beaufort worriedly before he turned around and run up the short stairs away from them and out of the throne room.

"Ven, wait!" Josette called out to him before she turned and run after him, ignoring Aqua and Beaufort's loud calls of their names behind her.

"Terra, where did you go?" said Ventus to himself as he run down several hallways and large empty rooms inside Maleficent's castle (while didn't noticed Josette running/following behind him) before they run out and leave Maleficent's castle.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Enchanted Dominion, part 3**

While both Ventus and Josette were using their Keyblades to freed Princess Aurora's heart from it's fiery imprisonment inside the large swirling flames/maze-like room (with the 3 fairies watching them both from behind) until all 5 of them left the room, met and fought against Maleficent inside her throne room inside her large and dark castle, another oval-shaped portal of light/lightning formed and appear against a small cliff inside the part of the forest near the Forbidden Mountains before both Aqua and Beaufort make their way out of the portal of light, stopped in their tracks and lifted their heads to glance in silence at the blue sky above them then lowered their heads to glance at the forest/grassy fields filled with trees, wild flowers, bushes and a lake around them (while their Keyblade armors glowed brightly then vanished into thin air).

Both Aqua and Beaufort then ceased looking at the forest around them and they turned to their left to walked forward deep into the forest and they stepped into the large, dark and barren-looking place of the Forbidden Mountains. After both Aqua and Beaufort walked into the Forbidden Mountains, they saw a kind of circular-shaped, glowing orb thing flew out from 1 of the opened windows of the dark, dreary and ominous-looking castle at the end of the long zig-zagging rocky path in front of them.

"What's that?" said Aqua with a confused look on her face when she saw the circular-shaped, glowing orb thing flew swiftly over her and Beaufort's heads toward the forest.

"Looks like some kind of glowing orb thing?" said Beaufort with a confused look on his face as well to Aqua.

"I think we better go and take a look inside the castle in front of us, Beaufort." Aqua told Beaufort.

"I agree with you, Aqua. That castle is worth investigating. And who knows? Maybe we'll find Ventus and Josette in there." said Beaufort with a small nod of his head to Aqua.

"That is true, Beaufort." said Aqua as she gave a small nod of agreement to Beaufort before they walked up the long, zig-zagging rocky path (and summoned forth their Rainfell and Vagos Maestus Keyblades to fight and destroy the Floods, Scrappers, Bruisers, Thornbites and Red Hot Chili Unverseds that appear on the zig-zagging rocky path) toward the large, dark castle and went into it.

Once both Aqua and Beaufort stepped into the castle, they saw (and widened their eyes a little in surprise then disgust) dozens of short bird and pig guards standing guard inside a large empty room inside the castle and when the short bird and pig guards saw both Aqua and Beaufort, the pig guards immediately charge toward them both with their spears in their hands while the short bird guards pull the arrows out from the bags behind them, placed the arrows in their bows and shoot the arrows toward them.

Both Aqua and Beaufort immediately raised their Keyblades to cut down the arrows flying toward them before they charge toward the swarm of bird and pig guards and they fought against the bird and pig guards with their Keyblades for the next 5 minutes to defeat/get rid of them until they managed to defeat/get rid of the swarm of bird and pig guards. Both Aqua and Beaufort then turned to their left to walked past several large and empty rooms, walked down a few series of dark hallways and as they approach an opened door that will lead them both into another room, both of them soon heard the familiar and angry voices of Ventus and Josette.

"There's no way that Terra would hurt Aurora like that! What more to say stole her heart!" yelled Ventus's voice angrily at someone.

"That's right, witch! So stop trying to fool us both with your lies about Terra already!" snapped Josette's voice angrily at someone as well.

The 2 familiar and angry voices of Ventus and Josette immediately made both Aqua and Beaufort walked swiftly through the opened door into the room and they soon saw both Ventus and Josette standing in the middle of the floor of Maleficent's throne room and they glared up at Maleficent as she staggered weakly up the stairs toward her throne.

"You two really don't believe me?" said Maleficent in a weak and feigned sad tone of voice to Ventus and Josette. "That's unfortunate for you two, for he agreed so easily."

"He… really did?" said Ventus as he lowered his head to look down at the floor.

"Ven, don't listen to anymore of her lying words." Josette told Ventus firmly.

"Ven, Jo! Don't be fooled by her lies!" Aqua called out to them before both she and Beaufort run down the stairs toward them both (while both Ventus and Josette turned to look at their direction when they heard Aqua calling out to them).

"Aqua, Beau!" exclaimed Josette with a happy look on her face when she and Ventus saw them both.

"Hey, you two." said Beaufort to Ventus and Josette as he and Aqua stopped in their tracks near them both.

"Terra would never do that, Ven, Jo. The both of you know that as well as me and Beaufort do." Aqua told Ventus and Josette.

"Yeah… you're right, Aqua." said Ventus as he lifted his head and smiled faintly at Aqua.

"Ahhh… the truth can be most cruel, even amongst the closest of friends like the 4 of you." said Maleficent as she glance down at Ventus, Josette, Aqua and Beaufort. "After all, one will never knows the entire secrets of another person's heart. I'm sure all 4 of you'll agree, Ventus… Josette… Aqua… Beaufort."

Aqua, Beaufort, Ventus and Josette glared in silent anger at Maleficent before both Aqua and Beaufort decided to ignore and look away from her and glance at Ventus and Josette.

"Ven, Jo, Master Eraqus sent us to come after you two." Beaufort told Ventus and Josette (while Aqua nodded her head in silent agreement at Beaufort's words) before both he and Aqua hold out their hands to them.

"Ven, Jo, come home with us." said Aqua.

"But, Terra…" said both Ventus and Josette in unison as they turned their heads to look away from Aqua and Beaufort.

"Terra's not ready to leave yet, Ven, Jo." Aqua told Ventus and Josette calmly yet firmly.

Both Ventus and Josette didn't say anything to Aqua and Beaufort for the next few seconds before Ventus began speaking to them. "I'm sorry, Aqua, Beaufort. But I can't go home with you two." said Ventus in an apologetic tone of voice to them while he shook his head a little.

"What?" said Aqua with a shocked look on her face.

"Why not, Ven?" said Beaufort, shocked as well.

"It's just that… I have to find him before it's too late!" Ventus told Aqua and Beaufort worriedly before he turned around and run up the short stairs away from them and out of the throne room.

"Ven, wait!" Josette called out to him before she turned and run after him as well.

"Ven, Jo!" both Aqua and Beaufort cried out to them and when they were about to give chase after Ventus and Josette when they saw that Ventus and Josette ignored their yelling and kept on running, Maleficent's next words stopped them from leaving.

"I see that the 2 of you wield Keyblades as well." said Maleficent to Aqua and Beaufort.

"What did you just say?" said Beaufort as he turned to glared up at Maleficent.

"How do you know about the Keyblades?" demanded Aqua.

"A source of power… A key that opens the hearts of men, women, of entire worlds… and allows one to obtain anything and everything. Such a power I find most fascinating." said Maleficent happily to herself.

"So, Terra… he really…" said Aqua as she lowered her head to look down at the floor sadly.

"No, I don't believe you, witch." said Beaufort as he narrowed his eyes at Maleficent. "There's no way that Terra would do such a thing. I think that you must have done something to him and make him do it."

"Are you sure about that, boy? Because if you're not, then you shouldn't throw random accusations at me." said Maleficent innocently to Beaufort (who narrowed his eyes even more at her) before she decided to ask both Aqua and Beaufort a question. "Now, my dear boy and girl, would the 2 of you like to assist me, as well?"

"Never!" snapped Aqua.

"What makes you think that we would assist you willingly, witch?" snapped Beaufort as well.

"I see now, Xehanort was right about you two." said Maleficent as she narrowed her eyes at Aqua and Beaufort. "The 2 of you are the most stubborn ones compared to the others."

"Master Xehanort? How do you-" said Aqua as she and Beaufort had shocked looks on their faces when they heard Maleficent said Master Xehanort's name.

"It seems the 2 of you need some time to consider my offer. Fortunately, I have the perfect place for you two." said Maleficent as the circular, pale green-coloured orb at the top of her wooden staff began to glow bright green before she raised her wooden staff and slammed it down on the ground near her.

After Maleficent slammed her glowing orb/wooden staff down on the ground, a portal of darkness suddenly appear and formed from under Aqua and Beaufort's feets, causing both of them to be sucked then fell into the portal of darkness.

XXXX

Both Aqua and Beaufort landed on their feets inside a semi-large dark dungeon room after they fell into the portal of darkness created by Maleficent before they stood up and saw a fair-skinned, short brown-haired, brown-eyed handsome-looking man wearing a long-sleeve black-coloured shirt with a light grey-coloured tunic or vest over his black shirt, a dark brown belt over his waist, long dark brown pants and matching boots on his legs as he sat on a stone bench which leaned against the wall behind him and with iron manacles/chains binding his wrists and connected to the wall.

"Who are you two?" the brown-haired man asked Aqua and Beaufort while they walked forward and stopped in their tracks in front of him.

"My name is Aqua and this is my friend, Beaufort." said Aqua as she introduced herself and Beaufort to the brown-haired man.

"The both of us fell into the trap set by the witch above and we landed into this room." Beaufort told the brown-haired man. "And what about you, sir? Why are you here?" Beaufort asked the brown-haired man.

"The witch kept me here to prevent me from breaking her evil curse." replied the brown-haired man.

"She kept you here to prevent you from breaking her curse? Why would she do that and how would you break this curse of hers?" Beaufort asked the brown-haired man for the second time.

"I was to meet the most beautiful girl at a cottage in the glen somewhere within the forest, but now my true love lies in an eternal slumber… This eternal slumber is the curse that the witch had casted and placed on her many years ago and only I can break the spell." the brown-haired man answer, told and explain to Beaufort and Aqua.

"You must really love her." said Aqua.

"Yes, I do, milady." said the brown-haired man with a nod of his head.

"Is what you said true?" asked an elderly woman voice suddenly from behind both Aqua and Beaufort and they quickly turned around to see who is it and they (and the brown-haired man) saw 3 fair-skinned, short elderly women/fairies wearing long-sleeves red, blue and green-coloured dresses on their bodies with matching hats on their heads (and tiny wings behind their backs) standing behind them.

"Yes. That's what Maleficent told me." replied the brown-haired man with another nod of his head.

"Oh, Prince Philip! It's you!" exclaim the red-dressed, elderly fairy woman with a surprised look on her face.

" _This man is a prince named Philip?"_ thought Beaufort silently to himself as he and Aqua watched the 2 red and green-dressed elderly fairy women flew forward past them both toward Prince Philip, pointed their wands downward at the manacles binding his wrists and helped freed his wrists from the manacles while the blue-dressed fairy turned and flew toward the locked-up dungeon door and raised her wand in front of the small keyhole to opened it. A few seconds later, the 2 red and green-dressed elderly fairy women managed to freed Prince Philip wrists from the manacles and he thanked them for it before he stood up from the stone bench he's sitting on and rubbed his wrists a little (while Aqua, Beaufort and the 3 elderly fairy women introduced themselves to each other).

"Now, Philip. The road to true love may be barred by many more dangers which you alone will have to face." Flora told Prince Philip before she raised her wand and conjured up a long sword and a shield for him to use in fighting.

"He won't be going alone, Flora. Because Aqua and I will go with him." Beaufort told Flora.

"I agreed with Beaufort, Flora. We'll go with him." said Aqua. "Plus, there's something that we need to know, and Maleficent has the answer."

"Yes, of course, my dears." said Flora as she nodded her head to both Aqua and Beaufort before she, Fauna and Merryweather turned around and flew toward the opened dungeon door. "Now, come along. We must hurry to Aurora." added Flora to Aqua, Beaufort and Prince Philip (who nodded before they approach the 3 fairies then all 6 of them walked through the opened dungeon door, walked up a staircase away from the dungeon then walked down a series of hallways and doors).

As Aqua, Beaufort, Prince Philip and the 3 fairies step into the large swirling flames/maze-like room, all 6 of them failed to noticed a black raven standing watch on the top of 1 of the walls for any signs of intruders and it immediately spread its wings out to flew up and away from the wall it's standing on and let out some loud caw sounds when it saw them running into the room. As soon as the raven started cawing out, the walls inside the swirling flames/maze-like room abruptly crumble down and disappear into the floor to reveal a swarm of bird and pig-guards armed with spears, bows and arrows in their hands as they began charging toward Aqua, Beaufort and Prince Philip (while the 3 fairies raised their wands above their heads to transform themselves into tiny, floating lights).

Both Aqua and Beaufort immediately summoned forth their Rainfell and Vagos Maestus Keyblades before they and Prince Philip charge toward the horde of bird and pig guards and began fighting and destroying them. After 10 minutes, the 3 of them managed to defeat/destroy the horde of bird and pig guards inside the large empty room (which is no longer a swirling flames/maze-like room) before they run toward and through the opened door in front of them, run back into Maleficent's empty throne room before they run down the stairs in front of them then run up the other stairs opposite the stairs and opened door that they just run out from and they run down another more series of hallways and rooms until they're back inside the large empty room where they could see the entrance/exit of Maleficent's castle is.

But as soon as Aqua, Beaufort and Prince Philip (and the 3 fairies floating closely above them) run into the large empty room where the entrance/exit of Maleficent's castle is, the same black raven that let out caw sounds back inside the previous room immediately let out another loud series of caw sounds to alert the bird and pig guards inside the room when it saw them. The pig guards heard the raven's cawing sounds and they immediately turned and charge toward Aqua, Beaufort and Prince Philip with their spears in their hands (while other pig guards choose to throw huge chunks of boulders at them) while the bird guards shoot their arrows at them.

Aqua, Beaufort and Prince Philip then spend the next 10 minutes in fighting and destroying the second swarm of pig and bird guards (while sometime during the fight, Beaufort had to pushed Aqua away from some of the huge chunks of boulders that some of the pig guards were throwing toward her and the right side of his face, chest and knees got hit head-on by the boulders, causing a bleeding gash wound to appear on the right side of his face and bruises on his chest and knees and causing Aqua to reprimand him for his recklessness right after she noticed and quickly casted Cure on him to healed his gash and bruises) until they got rid of them and they quickly run through the entrance/exit of Maleficent's castle, run down the rocky zig-zagging path away from Maleficent's castle, run into then run out of the forest and run down the long bridge toward the huge blue roof, white-coloured castle at the end of the bridge.

 **Meanwhile, on one of the towers of Maleficent's castle…**

Maleficent herself was very annoyed/livid when some of her surviving bird and pig guards came and told her that her prisoners had escaped from the dungeon and flee from her castle to head toward the other castle where Princess Aurora is before she disappear in a burst of bright green flames and appear at the top of 1 of her castle towers. When Maleficent saw Aqua, Beaufort and Prince Philip started running across the bridge from the tower, the annoyed/livid look on her face deepen even more before the orb on her wooden staff started to glowed brightly then she raised her wooden staff up above her toward the sky to began conjuring a kind of swirling round-shaped, bright purple-coloured magic spell.

"A forest of thorns shall be your tomb… Wound 'round the castle in a bower of doom!" chanted Maleficent before she lowered and thrust her wooden staff forward to casts her magic spell toward the other castle. Immediately the entire sky turned quite dark before dark purple-coloured lightning rained from the dark sky down around and outside the castle and onto the bridge that Aqua, Beaufort and Prince Philip were running across, creating dozens of huge black and sharp thorn trees which halted and prevented them from running onward. After Maleficent managed to prevent Aqua, Beaufort and Prince Philip from running onward, she then enveloped herself in green flames, disappear from her tower and appear on the bridge in front of them (which caused Aqua, Beaufort and Prince Philip to gasp in surprise a little before they glared at her and got into their battle stances).

"Maleficent! What did Master Xehanort tell you?" demanded Aqua.

"Such a pity, young ones, that the 2 of you don't have Terra's gift for obedience. Nor can you 2 see how easy it was for him." said Maleficent in a feigned sad tone of voice to both Aqua and Beaufort (while Prince Philip briefly glance back and forth at the 3 of them in confusion). " _Although that meddlesome chit named Kallima did tried and failed to stop him."_ added Maleficent silently in her mind.

"As I told you before, witch! I don't believe your lies about Terra, neither do Aqua!" snarled Beaufort. "Terra would never do anything to help you!"

"Quite the contrary, boy. He fully embraced the darkness within himself." said Maleficent smugly to Beaufort.

"Stop lying already!" yelled Aqua angrily at Maleficent.

"Humph, since you 2 are too stubborn to accept it, then I've no choice but to show you 2 instead! See for yourselves-all the powers of darkness and hell!" snapped Maleficent coldly to Aqua, Beaufort and Prince Philip before she crosses her arms over her chest then spread her arms out while at the same time, a large fiery green-coloured magic pillar surrounds Maleficent and Aqua, Beaufort and Prince Philip watched with surprised/shocked looks on their faces as she began to transform herself into a large, black-winged dragon.

" _Great, of all the living things this Maleficent witch could transform into, she choose the form of a large dragon."_ thought Beaufort bitterly in his mind as he glared at the large, black-winged dragon standing in front of him, Aqua and Prince Philip.

The dragon started it's first attack on Aqua, Beaufort and Prince Philip by raising it's front legs up above the bridge before it bring it's front legs down on the bridge to created a strong/hard shock wave that shook the bridge vigorously and caused the 3 of them to lose their balance/footing on the shaking bridge before they fell to their hands and knees hard on the bridge. Aqua, Beaufort and Prince Philip then stood up from the bridge (after it's no longer shaking from the strong shock wave caused by the dragon) before both Beaufort and Prince Philip charge toward the dragon together and they raised their keyblade and long sword to land a series of slashes and thrusts on the dragon's body while Aqua began casted a series of Blizzard and Thunder magic attack at the dragon to injured it.

After 10 minutes of Aqua, Beaufort and Prince Philip using their keyblades, sword and magic to swung, thrust, slash and casted on the dragon to injured it, the dragon let out a roar of pain, anger and frustration at the 3 of them before it spread it's wings out and started to flew itself up to the dark sky away from the bridge and from the 3 of them before it closed it's mouth to gathered a huge amount of bright green flames in it then opened it's mouth to unleash it's flames down at them. When Aqua, Beaufort and Prince Philip saw the dragon unleash it's flames down at them, both Aqua and Beaufort immediately raised their Rainfell and Vagos Maestus Keyblades above them and Prince Philip to created a strong magic shield around the 3 of them to protect them from the flames.

The green flames that the dragon had unleash from it's jaws struck against the magic shield that both Aqua and Beaufort had created to protect them and Prince Philip from the flames persists for the next 6 minutes before the flames run out and as the dragon landed itself back down onto the bridge, both Aqua and Beaufort dismissed the shield they created to protect themselves and Prince Philip before the 3 of them charge forward to resumed their fierce keyblade/sword attacks and magic attacks on it.

The dragon let out another roar of pain, anger and frustration at Aqua, Beaufort and Prince Philip for injuring it even more with their keyblade/sword attacks and magic attacks before it thrust it's head toward both Aqua and Beaufort to snap it's jaws at them, causing them to quickly jumped backward away from the dragon's snapping jaws (and also away from Prince Philip) before the dragon gathered and unleash another of it's flame attack down on both Aqua and Beaufort to surround/trapped them within it's flames.

"No!" said Aqua as she and Beaufort glance at the wall of flames surrounding them both before they glance through the flames with worry looks on their faces at Prince Philip as he swung his sword at the dragon while avoiding it's jaws snapping at him.

As Prince Philip continue to swung his sword at the dragon while avoiding it's snapping jaws (while both Aqua and Beaufort watched on worriedly from inside the flames), the 3 fairy women suddenly appeared out of nowhere in front of Aqua and Beaufort and behind Prince Philip.

"All together now, Fauna, Merryweather…" Flora told both Fauna and Merryweather, who nodded their heads at her before the 3 of them raised their wands together. "Now, sword of truth, fly swift and sure… that evil die and good endure." chanted Flora before 3 red, blue and green-coloured lights flew out from the 3 fairies wands, flew toward Prince Philip sword and went into it, causing the sword to glowed brightly. Prince Philip briefly glance at the now glowing sword he's holding before he threw the sword straight toward the dragon with all of his strength and Prince Philip, Aqua, Beaufort and the 3 fairies watched as the sword struck and pierce into the dragon's chest, causing the dragon to let out a final roar of pain, anger and frustration before green flames enveloped it's body and it disappear in a huge cloud of dark purple-coloured smoke.

After the disappearance of the dragon, the dozens of huge, sharp and black thorn trees that halted and prevented them from running across the bridge toward the castle, the wall of flames that surround/trapped both Aqua and Beaufort and the dark sky above them also vanished along with the dragon, returning everything back to normal. Prince Philip and the 3 fairies look around them for a few seconds before they quickly run and flew toward the castle, while both Aqua and Beaufort watched them run and flew toward the castle in silence before they turned around to glance at Maleficent, who has transform back into her original form and is now breathing heavily/painfully and limping down the bridge away from the 2 of them and the castle.

"You've lose, witch." said Beaufort smugly to Maleficent.

"Beaufort's right, Maleficent. You were defeated by the power of true love." said Aqua with a small nod of her head.

"I will not be defeated by something as insignificant as _love_." snapped Maleficent weakly/coldly to Aqua and Beaufort.

"You don't even know the first thing about it. You're too clouded by darkness to see that there's something far greater than darkness." said Aqua as she shake her head at Maleficent before she turned around to glance at the castle.

 **Inside Aurora's bedroom…**

The 3 fairies helped lead Prince Philip up a series of hallways and staircases until they reached the room where Princess Aurora is sleeping and Prince Philip opened the door, went into Princess Aurora room and saw her sleeping on the bed to his left. Prince Philip then approach and lowered his face close to Princess Aurora's face and kissed her. Prince Philip then pull away from her and watched with a happy/relief look on his face as Princess Aurora slowly opened her eyes, glance at him and smiled.

 **Back on the bridge…**

"Aqua's right, witch. You can try all you want, but you'll never truly defeat a heart filled with light." said Beaufort.

"Perhaps, boy…" said Maleficent before she turned around to glared coldly at Beaufort and Aqua. "But remember one thing, you two- as long as there is light, there will also be darkness. And in due time, many more will be drawn to it. Then they will all belong to me!" Maleficent added to both Aqua and Beaufort before she began laughing loudly, enveloped herself in flames and disappear into thin air before either Aqua or Beaufort could touch or catch her.

"Damn you, witch!" snarled Beaufort as he clench his hands into angry fists.

"Terra… You better stay strong for us." said Aqua as she lifted her head to glance sadly/worriedly up at the sky before both she and Beaufort run down the bridge toward the forest and leave the world.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Dwarf Woodlands, part 1**

Inside a partially dark and large chamber room, a tall, fair-skinned woman wearing a long-sleeve dark purple-coloured dress with a long red-coloured rope tied around her waist, a long black-coloured cape draped behind her back and a golden-coloured crown on her head is currently walking up the short steps (with 2 pale yellow-coloured pillars built on the left and right sides of the steps) toward the large oval-shaped mirror with dozens of horoscope signs carved around the outer wood of the mirror built against the wall before she stopped in her tracks in front of the mirror.

"Spirit of the Mirror- come from the farthest space." the woman began chanted to the mirror as she waved her hands around her a little then raised her hands above her. "Through wind and darkness, I summon thee… Speak!" as the woman kept on chanting to the mirror, several bolts of lightning then a huge wall of flames started to appear from inside the mirror. "Show me thy face." the woman command to the mirror before the huge wall of flames from inside the mirror disappear then reveal a greenish-yellow coloured face with no eyes and a frown look from it's face.

"What wouldst thou know, my Queen?" asked the spirit face of the mirror to the woman which he called the Queen.

"Magic Mirror on the wall- who is the fairest one of all?" the Queen asked the spirit of the mirror as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Famed is thy beauty, Majesty, but hold- a lovely maid I see." the spirit of the mirror began saying to the Queen before he trailed off for a second then resumed telling her. "Alas, she is more fair than thee."

"Alas for her!" said the Queen in a cold tone of voice to the spirit of the mirror for telling her that there's another woman who's more fairer than her. "Reveal her name." the Queen demanded to the spirit of the mirror.

"Lips red as the rose, hair black as ebony, skin white as snow-" replied the spirit of the mirror.

The Queen immediately gasped in outraged when she realised whom the woman that the spirit of the mirror was referring to. "Snow White!" exclaim the Queen with a surprised then jealous/anger look on her face.

As the Queen speak to the spirit of the mirror, both Terra and Kallima were hiding quietly behind two pillars near an opened door to their left as they eavesdrop on the conversation between the Queen and the spirit of the mirror.

"A mirror that knows and sees everything… How about that." said Terra with an interested look on his face.

"It's not the mirror that knows and sees everything, Terra. But the spirit that lives inside the mirror." Kallima told Terra before he raised his left hand to tell her to be quiet.

"The heart of Snow White doth shine bright. Beware, my Queen, a heart of light." said the spirit of the mirror in a warning tone of voice to the Queen.

"Another heart of light? Wait a minute, could this Snow White be another one of the princesses of hearts, like Princess Aurora?" asked Kallima in a small tone of voice to herself and to Terra.

"If that's true then could it mean that Master Xehanort is here?" said Terra a little loudly to himself and to Kallima, who immediately turned and covered his mouth with her right hand while giving him a "Why-do-you-have-to-speak-so-loud" look on her face but unluckily for them, his voice had already been heard by the Queen and she turned to glance at the 2 pillars where Terra and Kallima were still hiding.

"Who goes there?" demanded the Queen.

"Great, now she knows that we're here, thanks a lot, Terra." said Kallima sarcastically at Terra.

"Guess we've no choice but to show ourselves to her now, Kallima." said Terra to Kallima before they turned and began to walked out of their hiding place to meet the Queen, face to face. "My name is Terra and this is Kallima." said Terra as he introduced himself and Kallima to the Queen. "We're looking for a man named Xehanort… Master Xehanort. We thought that you might have seen him." Terra asked the Queen.

"That name is of no consequence to me." replied the Queen as she briefly raised and waved her right hand coldly at Terra.

"Is that so? Then we'll be leaving now." said Kallima to the Queen while Terra sighed in dismay when he heard that the Queen doesn't know who Xehanort is before they turned to their right and began to walked toward the opened door.

"Wait." said the Queen suddenly to both Terra and Kallima before they could leave the room and they turned back to glance at her. "Ah yes… I have a task for you two. If you 2 succeed, I will ask the spirit in the mirror where you 2 might find this man named Master Xehanort." the Queen told them both as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"And the mirror will know and tell us on the whereabouts of Master Xehanort?" Terra asked the Queen.

"Do you dare to question me?" said the Queen coldly to Terra before she turned to her right to look away from him and Kallima.

Both Terra and Kallima exchange unsure looks at each other about the task that the Queen had for them before they let out small sighs and decided to accept the task.

"We'll accept the task." said Terra to the Queen.

"So what is the task that you wanted us to do?" Kallima asked the Queen, who smile smugly to herself when she heard that both Terra and Kallima accepts her task before she turned and began to walked down the steps toward them.

"There is a young maid who resides in this castle. Her name is Snow White and I wanted the 2 of you to kill her." the Queen told Terra and Kallima (who let out a small gasp of shock when she heard what the Queen just told her and Terra). "And to make sure that you 2 do not failed me, bring back her heart… in this." added the Queen as she stopped in her tracks in front of Terra, pull out a small red-coloured chest with the golden-coloured symbols of a sword piercing a heart in front of the chest and hold the chest out to Terra, who took the chest from her before he and Kallima glance down at the chest then glance up at the Queen.

"You want us to put her heart inside this small chest and bring it back to you?" asked Kallima as she narrowed her eyes at the Queen.

"Precisely, girl." replied the Queen, not liking the look in Kallima's eyes.

"We don't understand. You're after the hearts of light, too?" asked Terra.

"No, you simpleton! What I demand is her life. I have had more than enough of her light." snapped the Queen coldly to Terra before she turned around and walked away from him and Kallima.

"What did this maiden do to you?" asked Terra.

"That is of no concerns of you two." replied the Queen as she stop walking and turned around to glance back at them. "Now, heed my words, you two. My radiance is all the light this kingdom needs." added the Queen to both Terra and Kallima as she crossed her arms over her chest for the second time.

" _Wow, for someone who is a queen of this castle, she's quite the jealous and vain-hearted woman."_ thought Kallima sarcastically about the Queen in her mind.

"Where can we find this maid?" Terra asked the Queen.

"You two will find her in a glade of wildflowers outside this castle. The 2 of you are dismissed now, leave now and seek her there." replied the Queen before she raised and briefly waved her left hand at them both to tell them to leave then turned to look away from them.

Both Terra and Kallima then turned to their right, walked out of the room and began to walked down a series of hallways and staircases filled with dozens of flame torches hanging on the walls, potion bottles and treasure chests (which both Terra and Kallima opened with their keyblades and took the items and magic spells/attacks from within while they fought and destroy the Floods, Scrappers, Bruisers, Blue Sea Salts, Thornbites and Hareraisers along the way) inside the castle.

"Another heart of light…" said Kallima to herself.

"This Snow White could be our best chance right now, Kallima. Maybe she will tell and lead us closer to Master Xehanort." Terra told Kallima.

"Maybe, Terra, but what if she doesn't know who or where Master Xehanort is? Furthermore, this Queen wanted us to kill her and take her heart and that is already a clear sign that she has darkness inside her. And also, what if the same thing which happens to you back in the previous world that we just leave will also happen to you here?" said Kallima worriedly to Terra as she stopped in her tracks.

Terra abruptly stopped in his tracks as well as he think about Kallima's words and think back to the bad event when the witch named Maleficent use her magic to woke the darkness inside him and control him to extract Princess Aurora's heart for her while she also prevented Kallima from interfering.

"No, I won't let something like that happen to me again, Kallima. But if it does then I hope that you'll be able to stop me." Terra told Kallima.

"I hope it won't come to that, Terra." said Kallima.

Both Terra and Kallima then trailed off into silence, resumed walking down the series of hallways and staircases until they reached and went through an opened door into the large underground waterway room under the castle, navigate their way and spin some rusted wooden wheels (which is built and placed on different floors of the underground waterway room) to opened some iron doors for them to walked through until they walked up the stairs and out through the waterway entrance/exit into the large courtyard of the castle, approach then opened the wooden double doors of the castle and leave the castle.

After both Terra and Kallima leave the castle, they kept on walking then stopped in their tracks in front of a small/short wooden bridge which leads toward a large and beautiful field filled with dozens of multi-coloured flowers, wild grasses, bushes, trees and a path which lead toward a forest and they saw a young fair-skinned, short black hair, brown-eyed young girl wearing a short-sleeve dark blue-coloured shirt with red-coloured teardrop patterns on her sleeves, a long yellow-coloured skirt and a long brown-coloured cape down her back crouching down in front of some flowers before she picked up some of the flowers and added them to the other bunch of flowers she hold in her left arm while humming softly to herself.

"I wonder if that's her." said Terra.

"I'm sure she is, Terra." said Kallima to Terra before they make their way toward the girl, who ceased her humming and turned her head to look over her left shoulder at them when she heard them approaching.

"Oh, hello. Who are you two?" said the girl in a soft/gentle tone of voice to Terra and Kallima.

"Uh, hello. I'm Kallima and this is Terra." said Kallima as she introduced herself and Terra to the girl.

"It's nice to meet you two, Kallima, Terra. My name is Snow White." said the girl as she put the bouquet of flowers she hold in her left arm down onto the ground before she stood up, turned around and introduced herself to them.

"Aren't you startled when you see us?" asked Terra.

"Should I be?" replied Snow White.

"In a way, you should, Snow White." said Kallima in a warning tone of voice to Snow White. "Because what if we're bad people?"

"But you two don't seem like bad people to me. I don't feel any bad intentions from you two." said Snow White as she smiled at them.

" _That kind and innocent attitude of hers settles it then. She is without a doubt another one of the princesses of hearts, just like Princess Aurora."_ thought Kallima to herself.

" _It's true then. Her heart is pure light. She's the one."_ thought Terra to himself.

"Is something the matter, you two?" asked Snow White when she saw both Terra and Kallima are in deep and silent thinking.

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing, Snow White." replied Kallima.

"Does the name Xehanort mean anything to you?" asked Terra.

"Why… Why no, sir. I don't think I've ever heard that name." replied Snow White.

" _She haven't heard Master Xehanort's name? That means that he's hasn't come to this world yet."_ thought Kallima to herself.

"Now what…?" said Terra to himself as he raised and placed his hand under his chin.

Suddenly, dozens of Floods Unversed appear out of the ground and started to surround Terra, Kallima and Snow White.

"Unverseds!" said Terra as he and Kallima immediately summoned forth their Earthshaker and New Moon Keyblades and got into their battle stances.

"Get behind us now, Snow White!" Kallima told Snow White, who didn't hear what Kallima said as she cried out in fear when she saw the Floods Unversed suddenly appear and surround the 3 of them in the field before she turned and began to run toward the path leading into the forest away from Kallima, Terra and the horde of Floods Unversed. "Wait, Snow White!" exclaimed Kallima worriedly to Snow White when she saw her running toward the path leading into the forest.

"Stop! Don't go in there alone!" exclaimed Terra worriedly to Snow White as well and just as he and Kallima were about to give chase after Snow White, even more of the Floods Unversed appear out of the ground in front of both Terra and Kallima and prevented them from running after Snow White.

"Why you…" said Kallima as she glared at the Floods Unversed that surround her and Terra and blocked their way.

"Get out of our way!" Terra yelled at the Floods Unversed with an annoy look on his face before both he and Kallima raised their keyblades and charge toward the horde of Floods Unversed to finish them off. They spend the next few minutes fighting and getting rid of the horde of Floods Unversed with their keyblades and their magic spell/attacks and by the time they're done in defeating the horde of Floods Unversed, make their way and stopped in their tracks on the path leading into the forest to look inside the forest for Snow White, they couldn't see or find her anywhere.

"Lost her…" said Terra as he sighed in dismay.

"We've to go into the forest and look for her, Terra. We can't just leave her all alone in there." Kallima told Terra with a worry look on her face for Snow White.

"I know, Kallima. But even if we go into the forest and found her, it's no use because she already told us that she doesn't know anything about Master Xehanort." said Terra.

"So what? Are you telling me that we should leave her inside the forest?" said Kallima as she scowled at Terra.

"… Unfortunately, Kallima. Come on, let's head back to the castle and asked the mirror about Master Xehanort. That is the only option we have now." said Terra to Kallima before he turned around and began to walked across the bridge away from the large flower field back toward the castle.

The scowling look on Kallima's face deepen a little when she watched Terra turned around and began to head back toward the castle before she turned her head to glance sadly into the forest. " _I hope that someone will find and help you soon inside there, Snow White."_ thought Kallima worriedly for Snow White before she look away from the forest and head back toward the castle after Terra.

XXXX

 **Inside the chamber room…**

Both Terra and Kallima spend the next few minutes making their way back into the castle's underground waterway, walked down the series of hallways and staircases until they stepped inside the chamber room where the Queen and the mirror is and they saw that the Queen is standing with her back to them and staring at the spirit in the mirror.

"How dare the 2 of you return here empty-handed, you blundering fools?" said the Queen coldly to Terra and Kallima.

"What are you talking about?" asked Terra.

"I ordered you two to bring me the heart of Snow White!" snapped the Queen at Terra as she turned around to glared at him and Kallima.

"Yeah, about that… Terra and I have decided to ignore it." said Kallima.

"Kallima's right. You know, you claim to be radiant, but all we see are shadows of vain and jealousy, covering and hanging thickly around your heart." said Terra.

"You two will pay dearly for such insolence!" snapped the Queen angrily at Terra and Kallima before she look over her left shoulder at the spirit in the mirror. "Magic mirror on the wall, consume this fool and wench, once and for all!" the Queen ordered the spirit of the mirror before both Terra and Kallima summoned forth their keyblades and got into their battle stances. When the spirit of the mirror did nothing, the Queen immediately turned around to glance at it.

"Alas my liege, that I cannot do. I have no power save answers true." said the spirit of the mirror calmly to the Queen.

"You dare defy your Queen!?" said the Queen in an outraged/angry tone of voice to the spirit of the mirror before she swiftly turned to her left to grabbed hold of a large glass bottle filled with green liquid up from the floor, throw the bottle toward the mirror and the bottle smashed into pieces against the mirror, thickly soaking the mirror with the green liquid inside the broken bottle.

Both Terra and Kallima gasped then narrowed their eyes in anger at the Queen for doing such a thing to the spirit in the mirror before they watched as the spirit of the mirror began to shake vigorously (due to the green liquid being splash upon it) then a bright light suddenly shone out of the mirror, causing both Terra and Kallima to raised their arms to cover their eyes from the bright light, unaware that they started to floated up from the floor, shrink into 2 small orb of lights and sucked straight into the mirror.

 **Inside the mirror…**

When both Terra and Kallima lowered their arms from their eyes and opened them (after they noticed that the bright light had dimmed down), they look around and saw that they're now standing inside the mirror world (which had large grayish-purple coloured smokes floating upward around them) with the large face of the spirit of the mirror floating in thin air on front of them.

Both Terra and Kallima then charge toward the spirit of the mirror with their keyblades and Kallima stabbed her keyblade into and next to the mouth of the spirit of the mirror before she jumped and slashed her keyblade upward at the spirit while Terra jumped above the spirit with his keyblade raised above him and he swung and strike his keyblade down onto the spirit (who cried out in pain from their upward and downward strikes). Both Terra and Kallima then swung, slash and stabbed their keyblades several times at the spirit until the spirit sanked itself into the floor only to rise up from the floor with dozens of spirit copies with it as they formed themselves into a long path formation on both sides of Terra and Kallima.

The spirit and it's copies then started to shoot Fira magic attacks out of their mouths at Terra and Kallima, who quickly run down the path in front of them to avoid the series of Fira magic attack that the spirit and it's copies were shooting at them. The spirit and it's copies keep this up for the next 5 minutes until they sanked into the floor before the real spirit rise up from the floor, floated high in the air in front of Terra and Kallima (who stop to catch their breaths a little) before the spirit started to dive rapidly down toward them with the intention to crashed against them head on. Both Terra and Kallima saw the spirit coming and they quickly dodged out of it's way before it could crashed against them both then Terra turned around and charge toward the spirit to land a series of strikes on it while Kallima hold out her keyblade in front of her to cast and launch a series of Fire and Blizzard magic attacks at the spirit.

The spirit cried out even more in pain from Terra's strikes and Kallima's magic attacks before it sanked itself to the floor then rose up from the floor with it's copies, this time in a circle formation around Terra and Kallima (who immediately stood back to back with each other and glance at the spirit of the mirror and it's copies circling around them with wary/cautious looks on their faces) before the spirit and it's copies shoot another series of Fira magic attack out of their mouths at Terra and Kallima and they quickly ducked and fell to the floor to avoid the Fira magic attack.

Both Terra and Kallima then stood up from the floor after the series of Fira magic attack, glance at the circle formation of the spirit and it's copies circling around them to search for the real spirit, found and noticed that 1 of the spirit is smirking at them both (unlike the others who had frown/serious looks on their faces) and they raised their keyblades and charge toward the smirking spirit and landed a series of thrust and slash strikes on the real spirit before Terra jumped above the spirit with his keyblade raised above him and he swung and strike his keyblade down on the spirit while Kallima stabbed her keyblade into the spirit then she jumped and slashed her keyblade upward at the spirit, causing the spirit to let out a final cry of pain before the same bright light shone brightly around Terra and Kallima and they quickly covered their eyes with their arms.

 **Back inside the chamber room…**

While both Terra and Kallima were fighting against the spirit of the mirror inside the mirror and managed to defeat it, the Queen was staring silently into the mirror until a bright light suddenly shone out of the mirror, causing the Queen to take a few steps backward from the shining mirror, raised her left arm and covered her eyes with the long sleeve of her dress. A few seconds later, 2 small orbs of light flew out of the mirror, stopped in the middle of the room and expand/ formed into the figures of Terra and Kallima. Both Terra and Kallima lowered their arms from their eyes, opened their eyes to glance around and saw that they've been released from the mirror and had return back inside the chamber room before they dismissed their keyblades and turned around to glance at the Queen (who had a shocked look on her face when she saw them).

"That's not possible! How did you two escape?" demanded the Queen in a shocked tone of voice to Terra and Kallima.

"How did we escape doesn't matter right now." said Kallima coldly to the Queen.

"Now, you will ask the mirror. Where can we find Master Xehanort?" asked Terra as he take a few steps forward to the Queen and stopped in front of her.

The Queen growled angrily at Terra and Kallima before she turned around to glance and ask the mirror. "Magic Mirror, instruct this knave and the wench! Give them the answers they doth craves!" said the Queen to the spirit of the mirror.

"Beyond both light and dark he dwells, where war was once waged upon the fells." replied the spirit of the mirror to the Queen, Terra and Kallima.

Both Terra and Kallima waited for the next few seconds for the spirit of the mirror to say anything else but the spirit stay silent. "Is that all?" Terra asked the spirit, who continue to remain silent.

"I guess that's all the spirit can tell us, Terra." said Kallima to Terra.

"Thanks, you've been a big help. Let's go, Kallima." Terra thanked the spirit for telling them some answer about where Master Xehanort might be before both he and Kallima turned around and leave the chamber room.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Dwarf Woodlands part 2**

While both Terra and Kallima were inside the chamber room with the Queen and the spirit who lived inside the mirror in the castle shortly after their arrival, both Ventus and Josette arrived a few minutes later and landed on the top of a pale orange-coloured rocky cliff before they take a look at the large area around them and they saw dozens of other similar rocky cliffs around them with a forest behind some of the cliffs to their right and 2 large mountains behind the forest.

As both Ventus and Josette continue to look at the large rocky cliffs area around them, they soon heard the sounds of men singing and the sounds of their footsteps coming closer from below the cliff which they're standing on and when both Ventus and Josette quickly turned to look down from the top edge of the cliff, they saw a group of 7 short fair-skinned dwarves with brown-coloured eyes and big noses on their faces, long white beards under their chins (except for the dopey-looking one walking at the back of the group), wearing different coloured long and short sleeve shirts, different coloured long pants with dark brown-coloured belts tied around their waists, brown-coloured shoes on their feets and different coloured hats on their heads while they hold their pickaxes in their left hands over their shoulders.

"Wow!" said Ventus in an awed tone of voice to himself when he and Josette saw the group of 7 short dwarves walking through the partially large cliff hole under them.

"Wow is right, Ven. We're actually seeing some real live dwarves!" said Josette in an awed tone of voice to Ventus, who nodded his head in agreement to her without looking before they turned around to run and stopped in their tracks at the other side of the cliff to watched the group of 7 dwarves approaching and entering an opened door at the bottom of another cliff in front of them and went into the mine.

After both Ventus and Josette watched the group of 7 dwarves went into the mine, they jumped down from the cliff which they're standing on, landed safely on their feet on the ground before they stood up and began to walked toward the opened door, went through the door and went inside the mine. Once both Ventus and Josette are inside the mine, they gasped and widened their eyes even more in awed when they saw dozens of golds, diamonds, emeralds, rubies and sapphires glittering everywhere on the walls of the mine before they saw the group of 7 dwarves standing in different corners of the mine and raising and swinging their pickaxes down on the walls repeatedly to dig out the jewels. As both Ventus and Josette continue to look at the jewels and the hard-working dwarves around them, one of the dwarves (who's wearing a pair of glasses on his face) suddenly noticed them out of the corner of his eyes and he immediately ceased his inspecting work to turned and glance at them.

"Huh? Who are you two?" the dwarf asked Ventus and Josette (who stop looking around and glance at him when they heard him asking/talking to them).

"I'm Ventus, but you can call me Ven. And this is my friend, Josette, but you can call her Jo." said Ventus as he introduced himself and Josette to the dwarf.

"Hello." said Josette as she briefly raised and waved her right hand at the dwarf.

"Jewel thieves! Take cover now, ya fools!" yelled the second dwarf (after he turned around and saw them) standing near the first dwarf who asked who Ventus and Josette are suddenly to the other dwarves who's still raising and swinging their pickaxes down onto the mine walls to dig out the jewels and all of them immediately ceased what they're doing, dropped their pickaxes and started to scattered around in front of both Ventus and Josette (who immediately had an amused look on her face when she saw the dwarves started scattering in front of her and Ventus in fear/panic) and 6 of them run up the stairs deeper into the mine to their right to hide from them both while the dopey-looking dwarf keep on running around until he crash face-first into a wall then he fell from the wall and landed on his back onto the ground.

" _Oh, you poor thing._ " thought Josette with a sad/pity look on her face at the dopey-looking dwarf when she (and Ventus) saw him running face-first into a wall before she approach the injured dwarf to helped him up and healed the bruise wound on his face (which caused the dopey dwarf to smiled silently and gratefully to her).

"I'm sorry, we didn't mean to frighten you." said Ventus in an apologetic tone of voice to the dwarves hiding behind some boulders deep in the mine.

"You two didn't?" said a third dwarf as he and the other 5 dwarves slowly came out of their hiding place and scowled at Ventus and Josette.

"You mean, you two are not here for our jewels?" asked a fourth dwarf in a sleepy/tired tone of voice to Ventus and Josette.

"Of course we don't!" said Josette with a small shake of her head.

"That's not nice of you, treating us like we're some kind of bad guys." said Ventus to the fourth dwarf. "We're just trying to find another friend of ours. His name is Terra. He's dressed kind of like me and he's about yay tall-" Ventus began asking them.

"Sounds like a tall tale to me! Go on, git, you two!" said the second dwarf in an annoyed tone of voice to Ventus, cutting off his words.

"We don't know or seen any Terra." said a fifth dwarf in a slightly bashful tone of voice to Ventus (who raised his right arm to scratch the back of his head) while Josette turned away from the dopey-looking dwarf (after she's done helping and healing him up) to approach and stopped in her tracks next to Ventus and glance at the 6 dwarves.

"Please… Could all of you come out of there and come over here? We just want to talk to you all, honest." said Josette calmly to the 6 dwarves.

"Don't you all fall for that woman's sweet words! Stay where ya are, all of you!" said the second dwarf in a firm and warning tone of voice to the other 5 dwarves as he turned to glance at them, causing them to nodded their heads in agreement to him.

"Great, what now, Ven?" said Josette as she crossed her arms over her chest before she turned to glance at him.

"Guess we got no choice except to do this the hard way, Jo. Come on." Ventus told Josette (who let out a small sigh before she nodded to him) before they turned and began to run toward and run up the stairs after the 6 dwarves, who gasped in fear when they saw both Ventus and Josette started running toward them and they immediately turned around and run away from them both deeper into the mine.

Once both Ventus and Josette run up the stairs and run deeper into the mine to chase and search for the 6 dwarves that run away from them, they stopped running when they saw that the inner mine had branch off into two direction (and is filled with even more of the glittering jewels on the walls and dozens of wooden crates that's stacked together on the ground in different corners of the wall).

Both Ventus and Josette then decided to split up and Ventus walked swiftly down the left inner mine path while Josette walked swiftly down the right inner mine path to resumed their chase and search of the 6 dwarves. A few minutes later, Ventus managed to find 3 dwarves hiding and running around inside the wooden crates and riding on an ore car that drove automatically in and out of the tunnel inside the mine while Josette managed to find the other 3 dwarves hiding, running and also sneezing/jumping around inside the wooden crates (while they also had to summoned forth their Wayward Wind and Helianthus keyblades to defeat/destroy the Floods, Scrappers, Red Hot Chilis and Monotruckers Unverseds that appear in front of them and out of the wooden crates that they picked up from the ground in the inner mine). After both Ventus and Josette managed to find the 6 dwarves, they and the 6 dwarves (who reluctantly told them their names after they found and caught them) walked out of the inner mine and stay in the outer mine near the entrance/exit.

"Come on, I'm telling you all that we're not jewel thieves!" said Ventus as he and Josette glance at the 7 dwarves (who glance back at them with wary/annoy looks on their faces).

"Ha, that's what they all says to us! Well, not this time, because we're onto you two!" growled the annoyed-looking dwarf named Grumpy to Ventus.

"Stop judging and labeling us as jewel thieves before you know us first, Grumpy! Honestly!" said Josette as she glared at Grumpy, who look away from Ventus and glared back at her.

"Fine, I get it. You all wanted us to leave, we'll leave now. Let's go, Jo." said Ventus after he let out a small sigh of dismay before both he and Josette turned around and began to walked toward the entrance/exit of the outer mine. Ventus then stop walking and he turned to glance back at the dwarves to ask them a question (same goes for Josette).

"Oh but, can you all tell us where we can find some other people around here?" Ventus asked the dwarves.

"There's a castle beyond the chorus- I mean, the forest." replied the dwarf named Doc.

"Alright, thanks for telling us." said Josette in a slightly thankful tone of voice to Doc before both she and Ventus turned around and walked away from the dwarves, walked through the entrance/exit door and out of the jewel mine. After they walked out of the mine, they then walked forward down the path past the cliffs around them, walked into the forest and keep on walking until they walked out of the forest and stopped in their tracks when they reached and saw a small clearing which had a small wooden/stone cottage in it. The walls of the small cottage is dull pink in colour with several square-shaped windows and a small wooden door on it while the roof of the cottage is yellow in colour (and with a small bench next to the door and under the window in front of the cottage and 2 wooden barrels standing against the left wall of the cottage). Both Ventus and Josette then approach the window of the cottage to inspect and peered through it to look at the interior of the cottage.

"Do you think this cottage is the home of those 7 dwarves that we just saw from the mine before we leave, Ven?" Josette asked Ventus.

"I think so, Jo." replied Ventus with a small nod of his head to Josette.

Suddenly, both Ventus and Josette heard a loud and fearful scream of a girl coming from behind them and they quickly back away from the window, turned around and look frantically around them to see and find where the scream came from and they set their attention on the bridge that lead to another path toward the forest.

"That must be where the scream came from! Let's go check it out, Jo!" Ventus told Josette before he began running toward and across the wooden bridge and down the path into the forest.

"Right, Ven!" said Josette before she began running closely behind him across the bridge, the path and into the forest as well.

Once both Ventus and Josette run into the forest (which instantly turned dark around them), they swiftly and carefully walked deeper into the dark forest, walked past the tall and thick-looking trees and huge boulders around them and they soon heard the sound of a girl crying. When they finally found and approach the source of the crying and the previous loud scream of fear, they saw that it's a young short black-haired, fair-skinned girl wearing a short-sleeve dark blue-coloured shirt with red-coloured teardrop patterns on her sleeves, a long yellow-coloured skirt with a long brown-coloured cape down her back and yellow-coloured slippers on her feets as she sat on the ground with her hands covering her face as she continue to cry in fear.

"Hey, are you alright?" asked Josette gently to the crying girl before she got down on one knee next to the girl and she raised and placed her hand on the girl's left shoulder.

"What's wrong?" asked Ventus.

"T-These horrible trees-they tried to grab me." said the girl in a fearful tone of voice to Ventus and Josette.

"Oh, it's okay, miss. You were probably just seeing things. It happens to all of us when we're afraid." said Ventus in a reassuring tone of voice to the girl.

"Yeah, he's right, miss. So you don't have to be afraid and cry anymore." said Josette as she gave a reassuring smile to the girl when the girl glance back and forth at her and Ventus before Josette slowly helped her to stand up from the ground.

"Oh, thank you for your kind and reassuring words, you two. I feel quite better now. I'm sure I'll get along, somehow." said the girl in a soft and kind tone of voice to Ventus and Josette. "But… I do need a place to sleep for the night. Would you two know any nearby place where I might sleep?" the girl asked Ventus and Josette.

"A place where you can sleep, huh? How about the cottage we just saw back there?" Josette told Snow White.

"Hey, that's a good idea, Jo. Come on, we'll take you there. Oh, I'm Ventus, Ven for short. And this is my friend, Josette, but you can call her Jo." Ventus told the girl before he introduced himself and Josette to her.

"Thank you, Ven, Jo. My name's Snow White." said the girl named Snow White to Ventus and Josette.

"It's nice to meet you, Snow White." said Josette as she smiled at Snow White, who smiled back at her.

"Great! Let's get going then!" said Ventus before he, Josette and Snow White turned and they began to helped escort Snow White through the dark forest (and they summoned forth their keyblades to defeat/destroy the Floods, Scrappers, Bruisers and Archravens Unverseds and dispel away the phantom trees that try to approach and hold out their gnarly branch hands to grab hold of Snow White along the way) until they walked out of the forest and bring her toward the cottage before they opened the door and entered the cottage.

Once Ventus, Josette and Snow White stepped inside the cottage and they take a look at the interior of the cottage around them, they saw a small rectangular-shaped wooden table in front of them which had 7 chairs in it, a fireplace with a large and empty black-coloured pot hanging on a sturdy iron pole inside it, a cupboard with 7 white-coloured plates and cups stacked neatly inside it and a staircase leading up to the closed bedroom to their left.

"Okay, we're pretty sure that you'll be safe in here, Snow White." said Ventus as he turned to glance at Snow White, who also turned to glance and nodded to him. "But sit tight while Jo and I head out to have a look around the area, just in case. Come on, Jo." Ventus added to Snow White before he told Josette to come with him.

"Right, Ven. We'll be back soon, Snow White." Josette told Snow White.

"Alright, Jo. Be careful out there, you and Ven both." said Snow White in a worry tone of voice to Ventus and Josette, who smiled and nodded to her before they leave the cottage. After Snow White watched Ventus and Josette leave the cottage, she let out a tired yawn and stretch her arms out for a few seconds before she turned and began to walked up the stairs toward the bedroom for her slumber.

 **Two hours later…**

The 7 dwarves who went off to do their digging work in the jewel mine in the cliffs return back to their cottage after they're done with their work for the day. Six of the dwarves put down their pickaxes against the wall next to the fireplace before they turned and walked toward the wooden table and pull back the chairs to sit down while the seventh dwarf named Doc decided to walked upstairs and went into the bedroom.

"There's someone sleeping in here!" exclaim Doc in a surprised tone of voice to himself when he saw Snow White sleeping on 4 of the beds which had been placed together and leaned against the wall.

 **A half-hour later…**

After both Ventus and Josette are done in their scouting work around the area, they regroup to return and went inside the cottage.

"The coast is clear, Snow White. Not a single monster or unversed in sight anywhere. Huh?" said Ventus in a reassuring tone of voice to Snow White before he turned to glance at her and saw with a surprised look on his face that she's completely surrounded by the 7 dwarves that he and Josette met in the jewel mine 2 and a half hours ago.

"What is it, Ven?" asked Josette to Ventus before she look over Ventus's left shoulder to see what he see and she saw the 7 dwarves (who immediately turned to glance at Ventus and Josette, same goes for Snow White) that surround Snow White. "Oh, great. It's the dwarves again." muttered Josette with a frown look on her face.

"Just couldn't stay away, couldja, you two? And who invited you two into our house, you rotten thieves?" growled Grumpy as he glared at Ventus and Josette.

"Oh no, they're not thieves. They rescued me and bring me into this cottage." said Snow White in a gentle tone of voice to the dwarves.

"You fussn't be mooled-uh, I mean, mustn't be fooled by them, princess." said Doc in a wary tone of voice to Snow White.

"Just go on and git already, you two!" snapped Grumpy.

"Why are you guys still suspicious of me and Ven? We haven't done anything bad to you or to any of your fellow dwarves!" Josette snapped back at Grumpy.

"Jo's right, you guys! Plus we already told you all back in the mine that we're not bad guys or thieves!" said Ventus.

"Please don't send them away. You see, they helped me when I was lost, and oh, so frightened in the forest by myself." said Snow White in a pleading tone of voice to the dwarves while she raised and clasped her hands together on her chest.

"Now that you mention it, why are you alone in the forest before we found you, Snow White?" Josette asked Snow White.

"Yeah, what happened to you?" asked Ventus.

"Well, I was picking flowers by myself in the large flower field outside the castle when I suddenly met two strangers there. They both had swords that's shaped like large keys, and then these terrible monsters showed up and-" replied Snow White before she trailed off into silence.

"Two strangers with swords that's shaped like large keys?" said Ventus as he crossed his arms over his chest (while Josette raised and placed her hand under her chin in deep thinking) before he realised who the strangers that Snow White just told them. "It must be Terra!"

"I think so too, Ven. But who is this other keyblade wielder with him because we saw Aqua and Beaufort together in the previous world before we leave." Josette asked Ventus.

"I don't know, Jo." replied Ventus.

"You mean these 2 strangers saw ya and called forth their horde of evil demons after ya, princess?" said Doc.

"Hey, hold on a minute there, Doc! You can't just jump straight into conclusions about Terra and the other one before you know everything." said Josette as she scowled at Doc.

"Yeah, Jo's right! Terra or the other person would never do that!" protested Ventus.

"Oh, of course, I'm sure they wouldn't. Not if they're your friends." said Snow White.

"Princess, you trustn't be so musting- er, I mean, trusting of these two." said Doc in a wary tone of voice to Snow White.

"They're a-lying! Mark my words!" said Grumpy.

"We're not lying to you guys about Terra and the other person! Why won't you guys believe us?" said Josette as she glared at Doc and Grumpy.

"Fine! We'll prove to you all that Terra and the other person wouldn't do such a thing to Snow White! Let's go, Jo!" Ventus told the 7 dwarves and Snow White before he told Josette to come with him. Josette nodded to him before both she and Ventus run out of the cottage, run down the path and run across the bridge into the dark forest.

As both Ventus and Josette run into the dark forest, they stopped running when they saw a large brown-coloured tree Unversed (named Mad Treant) with dozens of green-coloured leaves and dozens of blue and purple-coloured fruits growing on it standing in the middle of the forest in front of them and blocking their path.

"An Unversed! A huge and different one this time, Ven!" Josette told Ventus (who nodded to her without looking) before she summoned forth her Helianthus keyblade.

"Back off!" Ventus yelled at Mad Treant before he summoned forth his Wayward Wind keyblade then he and Josette got into their battle stances to prepared for a fight against Mad Treant.

Mad Treant begin it's first attack on both Ventus and Josette by jumping high off the ground into the air then fell rapidly down toward them to attempt to crush them under it but they quickly dodged left and right away from Mad Treant before it crash down onto the ground with a hard and loud thud sound and creating a shockwave around the ground area that it just crash down on. Mad Treant then keep up it's jumping and crashing down attack on Ventus and Josette for the next few seconds (causing them to quickly dodged away from it's jumping/crashing down attacks) before Mad Treant decided to ceased it's jumping/crashing down attacks on Ventus and Josette to planted it's roots down onto the ground and shot it's roots swiftly forward under the ground toward Ventus and Josette.

Mad Treant's roots burst out of the ground under Ventus and Josette and the roots immediately snared themselves around Ventus and Josette's bodies to prevent them from dodging away from it. Both Ventus and Josette struggle to free themselves from the tight roots of Mad Treant wrapping tightly around their bodies while Mad Treant began casting and launching several Fira magic toward them both to injured them after it succeeded in capturing and restraining them in 2 of it's roots. Both Ventus and Josette cried out in pain from the Fira magic attack of Mad Treant before they decided to ignored the burning pains on their bodies to resumed their struggling to free themselves from the tight roots around them until they managed to break themselves free from it and fell down to the ground. Josette then quickly raised her Helianthus keyblade above her and Ventus to casted Cure magic on them to healed their burned wounds before they stood up from the ground after their burned wounds have healed up.

"Thanks for the healing, Jo!" said Ventus in a grateful tone of voice to Josette.

"You're welcome, Ven! Now let's defeat this tree Unversed!" said Josette to Ventus before they charge toward Mad Treant and they strike their keyblades at Mad Treant with a series of quick thrusts and slashes before they jumped up above Mad Treant to raised and swung their keyblades down to land 2 strong downward strikes on it.

Mad Treant isn't amused by their attacks on it before it immediately spin it's branches and leave around to threw it's blue and purple-coloured fruits in all directions. Both Ventus and Josette quickly jumped and dodged away from some of the fruits that flew toward them and they soon saw that the blue fruits explode while the purple fruits melted into slightly steaming poison purple puddles on the ground after they landed.

After Mad Treant spin it's branches and leaves to threw away all of it's exploding and poisonous fruits in all directions and at Ventus and Josette, it then planted it's roots down into the ground to begin growing another batch of it's exploding and poisonous fruits on it's branches. When both Ventus and Josette saw that Mad Treant is busy in growing it's fruits out, they take the chance to charge toward Mad Treant to finish it off. Both Ventus and Josette strike their keyblades at Mad Treant with another series of thrusts and slashes before Ventus jumped above Mad Treant with his keyblade raised above him and he swung his keyblade down to land a third and strong downward strike on Mad Treant while Josette hold out her keyblade to begin casting and launching a series of Fire and Blizzard magic attacks at Mad Treant and they managed to defeat/destroy Mad Treant together.

After both Ventus and Josette defeat/destroy the Mad Treant Unversed, they resumed running through the dark forest until they run out of the forest and they arrived and stopped in their tracks inside a large, empty and beautiful field filled with dozens of multi-coloured flowers, wild grasses, bushes, trees and a small/short wooden bridge that leads toward a distant castle to their left.

"Terra!" both Ventus and Josette yelled out over the field while they look at the field around them. Their voices echoed in the air but they didn't received any replies or see any sign of Terra or the other person anywhere.

"Aww, he's not here anymore." said Ventus as he lowered his head to look down at the ground sadly.

"And neither does the other person with him." said Josette sadly to Ventus.

Suddenly, both Ventus and Josette saw a red apple rolling across the field ground toward Ventus's feet and he bend down to picked up the red apple. After Ventus picked up the apple and he and Josette look down at the apple in his palm, they then lifted their heads to look up and saw an elderly, hunched-back, black hooded robe/cloak woman walking across the field in front of them and carrying a basket full of apples (which is pale green and pink in colour) on her right arm.

"Looks like this apple belongs to her, Ven." Josette told Ventus.

"I think you're right, Jo. Let's return the apple to her." said Ventus to Josette before they began making their way toward the elderly woman (not knowing that the elderly woman is actually the Queen in disguise). "Excuse us, ma'am? You dropped this." Ventus told the elderly woman (who immediately turned around to glance at him and Josette when she heard him talking to her) before he hold out the apple to her.

"Oh, why thank you, my pet." said the elderly woman in a grateful and relieved tone of voice to Ventus as she took the apple from him. "To tell the truth, I really don't know what I would have done without that." added the elderly woman to both Ventus and Josette as she put the apple back into the basket with the other apples before she turned away from them and began cackling to herself (which caused Josette to raised her eyebrows in suspicion of the elderly woman).

"Haven't I seen those swords before?" the elderly woman asked Ventus and Josette about the keyblades they hold in their hands.

"Terra has one. You know Terra?" Ventus asked the elderly woman.

"Oh, yes, yes, I do… That ruffian and the wench named Kallima raised and pointed those swords at me, demanding and asking me about some man named "Xehanort"- My poor heart nearly stopped." replied the elderly woman in a fearful tone of voice to Ventus as she turned around to glance at him.

"They really did that to you?" said Josette in a disbelief tone of voice to the elderly woman.

"Why yes, they did, my pet." said the elderly woman with a small nod of her head to Josette.

"That doesn't sound like Terra at all, though I don't know about the other girl named Kallima…" said Ventus to himself as he glance down at his keyblade before he glance at the elderly woman and ask her another question. "Ma'am, where did they go?"

"I'm sure I have no idea on where they've gone off to… Must you two menace a poor granny so, like those two did?" said the elderly woman in a fearful tone of voice to Ventus.

"What, of course we're not! We're just looking for our friend." Josette told the elderly woman before she trailed off into silence then both she and Ventus watched as the elderly woman turned to look away from them and began walking down the path toward the dark forest.

"Terra, what did you and this Kallima do?" said Ventus quietly to himself while Josette didn't say anything.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: Dwarf Woodlands, part 3**

 **Inside the dwarves cottage…**

In the main room of the cottage, Snow White (who's alone in the cottage while the 7 dwarves left the cottage to gather woods and supplies from the forest) slowly walked backward in nervousness/worry away from the elderly, hunched back, black-hooded robe/cloak woman as she slowly approach Snow White while holding out the red apple to her in her skinny hand. Snow White continue to walked backward away from the elderly woman until her back bumped against the wall behind her and the elderly woman stopped in front of Snow White, gently lowered and placed the apple in Snow White's hands before she slowly walked backward away from her. Snow White then gave a small smile to the elderly woman before she glance down at the apple in her hands for a few seconds before she raised the apple close to her mouth and take a bite out of it (while the elderly woman watched on in silence). After Snow White took a bite of the apple, she started to groaned before she fell sideways down onto the ground and the apple she hold in her hands rolled away from her hands toward the elderly woman's feet as the elderly woman started to cackled slightly loudly in joy/triumph at accomplishing what she came to do.

 **One hour later…**

Both Aqua and Beaufort were walking silently down the path away from the forest behind them until they stopped in their tracks when they reached and saw a small clearing which had a small wooden/stone cottage in it. They then saw a group of 7 short dwarves kneeling, mourning and sniffling sadly in front of a glass coffin slightly far in front of them both and they make their way toward the group of 7 dwarves and the glass coffin.

"Excuse me, all of you. But why are all of you crying?" Beaufort asked the 7 dwarves.

"Did something happened here?" asked Aqua.

"Yeah, something did happened. Poor Snow White." replied Doc as he slowly stood up from the ground and turned around to glance sadly at both Aqua and Beaufort.

Both Aqua and Beaufort exchange confused glances with each other before they walked forward past Doc and the other kneeling/sniffling 6 dwarves toward the glass coffin, stopped and look into the coffin and they gasped in shocked unison when they saw Snow White lying inside the coffin.

"She was just as kind and sweet as could be." said Doc.

"She sang us lots of purty songs…" said Sneezy.

"And made us smile a lot." said Happy.

"And when it's our bedtimes, she told us wonderful stories…" said Sleepy.

"About falling in love, an' the Prince she'd met someday." said Bashful.

"An' before we went to work in the mine, she gave us all a kiss…" said Grumpy.

"She was so full of kindness- why, she made better folks of all of us." said Happy.

"From what all of you just said to us, she must have been loved." said Aqua sadly to the 7 dwarves.

"But, how did this happened to her?" asked Beaufort as he turned to glance at Doc.

"The wicked Queen was horribly jealous of our dear Snow White's beauty. So she casted her evil magic on herself to change herself into an old hag, and then she came to our house and gave Snow White a poisoned apple." Doc answer/explain to both Aqua and Beaufort.

"An' by the time we knew and got here… Well, it was just too late." said Happy. "We found the princess as still as can be on the floor… Nothing we could do would wake her up."

"That _Queen_ did such a terrible thing to her just because she's jealous of her kindness and beauty? Man, she's quite the vain-hearted and jealous one indeed." said Beaufort as he scowled and shake his head a little.

"Isn't there some way we can help her?" asked Aqua.

"Well, not unless somebody craves the bastle- uh, I mean, braves the castle beyond the forest over there." replied Doc as he raised and pointed his finger at the direction of the other path at the other side of the bridge to their right and both Aqua and Beaufort turned their heads to glance at the path leading into the dark forest which Doc pointed for them before they crossed their arms and began thinking in silence.

"All you cowardly fools can stay here doin' nothin'. But I'm not afeard a goin', not even to that witch's lair!" said Grumpy as he stood up from the ground and scowled at the other 6 dwarves.

"You'll never make it, Grumpy. The castle's supposed to be guarded by magic, an' crawling with monsters." said Doc in a worry tone of voice to Grumpy.

"I don't care, Doc! I'm still gonna go for the princess!" Grumpy snapped at Doc.

"No, there's no need for you to go. Aqua and I will go to the castle instead." Beaufort told the dwarves, who gasped and turned to glance at both him and Aqua (after they uncrossed their arms and nodded to each other) with surprised/worry looks on their faces.

"You two will?" said Bashful.

"Of course we will. Leave it to us." said Aqua as she nodded her head to the dwarves.

"Well, all right then, my dear lady and brave sir. We'd be much obliged." said Doc in a thankful tone of voice to Aqua and Beaufort.

"You're all welcome. We'll leaving for the castle now." Beaufort told the dwarves before both he and Aqua turned and began to walked away from them toward the bridge, walked across the bridge and walked down the path into the dark forest. Both Aqua and Beaufort walked through and came out of the dark forest into the large flower field (while they summoned forth their Rainfell and Vagos Maestus keyblades to defeat/destroy the horde of Unverseds that appear in front of them along the way), turned to their left to walked toward and across the bridge and down another path, went into the castle and they found themselves inside the castle's large courtyard area before they noticed a fair-skinned, short dark brown-haired man wearing a long-sleeve white-coloured shirt with a sleeveless navy blue-coloured shirt over it and a red-coloured cape behind his back, long blue pants and short brown boots on his legs and a blue cap on his head standing a few feet away to their right as he stands near a well. Both Aqua and Beaufort then turned and approach the man.

"Is something wrong?" Aqua asked the man (who immediately turned to glance at her and Beaufort when he heard Aqua talking to him).

"The castle… it's different somehow." replied the man. "And I can't find the princess anywhere or hear her beautiful voice. Was it all a dream?"

"The Princess? Are you talking about Snow White? Do you know her?" asked Beaufort.

"Oh yes, of course I know her. We met once in this castle." replied the man. "It was a song that drew us together. Has something happened to the princess?" the man asked both Aqua and Beaufort (who lowered their heads to glance down at the ground sadly).

"Yes, unfortunately." replied Beaufort sadly.

"The wicked Queen tricked her into eating a poisoned apple." Aqua told the man sadly (which caused him to widened his eyes and gasped in shocked).

"The Queen did? Then I must go to her at once! Where is she?" demanded the man anxiously/worriedly to both Aqua and Beaufort.

"She's currently lying in a glass coffin and guarded by 7 dwarves in a clearing beyond the dark forest." Beaufort told the man.

"Thank you for telling me where she is, kind sir. I will leave and find her now. Perhaps there is a way I can help." said the man in a thankful tone of voice to Beaufort before he run past them and run out of the castle.

Both Aqua and Beaufort turned and watched the man leave the courtyard for a few seconds before they turned back and began to walked toward the opened entrance/exit door built in the deep corner of the courtyard and they went through the entrance/exit door and found themselves inside a large underground waterway room under the castle. Both Aqua and Beaufort then walked forward inside the underground waterway room while navigating their way and spin some rusted wooden wheels (which is built and placed on different floors of the underground waterway room) to opened some iron doors for them and they walked through the opened iron doors, walked out of the underground waterway room into another large room, walked forward down a series of empty hallways and staircases filled with dozens of flame torches hanging on the walls, potion bottles and treasure chests (which both Aqua and Beaufort opened with their keyblades and took the items and magic spells/attacks from within while they defeat/destroy the horde of Unverseds that appear in front of them along the way) until they walked into a partially dark and large chamber room which had a large oval-shaped mirror with dozens of horoscope signs carved around the outer wood of the mirror built against the wall. But as soon as both Aqua and Beaufort stepped into the room and take a look around the room, a strong and uneasy feeling started to brewed up inside them both (while they also saw that the Queen isn't in the chamber room).

"There's something's not right about this room, Beaufort." said Aqua as she look around the room uneasily.

"Yeah, I know what you mean, Aqua." said Beaufort as he look around the room uneasily as well.

Both Aqua and Beaufort then turned their attention on the mirror hanging on the wall and they make their way up the short steps and stopped in front of the mirror and glance at it (while the uneasy feeling inside them grew stronger). Suddenly several bolts of lightning then a huge wall of flames started to appear from within the mirror before the bolts of lightning and the huge wall of flames disappear to reveal a greenish-yellow coloured spirit face with no eyes and a frown look on it's face. Both Aqua and Beaufort widened their eyes and gasped in shocked at seeing the spirit face in the mirror before they quickly jumped backward away from the mirror and summoned forth their keyblades. The next second, a bright light shone out of the mirror and caused both Aqua and Beaufort to closed their eyes and raised their arms to covered their faces from the bright light while unaware that they've started to floated up from the floor, shrink into 2 small orbs of lights and sucked straight into the mirror.

 **Inside the mirror…**

When both Aqua and Beaufort lowered their arms from their eyes and opened them (after they noticed that the bright light had dimmed down), they look around and saw that they're now standing and trapped inside the mirror world (which had large grayish-purple coloured smokes floating upward around them) with the large spirit face of the mirror floating in thin air on front of them.

Both Aqua and Beaufort then charge toward the spirit face of the mirror with their keyblades and Aqua swung her keyblade forward to the spirit face of the mirror to dealt a series of thrusts and slashes at it while Beaufort jumped above the spirit face with his keyblade raised above him and he swung and strike his keyblade down onto the spirit (who cried out in pain from their thrusts, slashes and downward strikes). Both Aqua and Beaufort then continue their attacks at the spirit face for the next few minutes until the spirit face sanked itself into the floor only to rise up from the floor with dozens of spirit face copies with it as they formed themselves into a long path formation on both sides of Aqua and Beaufort.

The spirit face and it's copies then started to shoot Fira magic attacks out of their mouths at Aqua and Beaufort, who quickly run down the path in front of them to avoid the series of Fira magic attack that the spirit face and it's copies were shooting at them. The spirit and it's copies keep this up for the next 5 minutes until they sanked into the floor before the real spirit face rise up from the floor, floated high in the air in front of Aqua and Beaufort (who stop to catch their breaths a little) before the spirit face started to dive rapidly down toward them with the intention to crashed against them head on. When Beaufort lifted his head and saw the spirit face coming rapidly toward him and Aqua, he quickly pushed Aqua away from him before the spirit face crashed hard against him, causing him to cried out in pain from the impact before he fell backward from the spirit face and landed with a painful thud on his back on the glass floor.

"Beaufort!" Aqua cried out worriedly to Beaufort when she saw him lying injured on the floor before she stood up, turned around and quickly make her way toward him, raised and lowered her keyblade on him to healed his wound.

"Thanks for the healing, Aqua." said Beaufort in a thankful tone of voice to Aqua.

"No problem, Beaufort. And didn't I told you to not be so reckless?" said Aqua in a reprimanding tone of voice to Beaufort.

"Yeah, well…" said Beaufort with a "I'm sorry" look on his face at Aqua (who sigh at him before she hold out her right hand to help him stand up from the floor and they charge toward the spirit face to dealt more thrusts, slashes and strikes on it).

The spirit cried out even more in pain from Aqua and Beaufort's attacks before it sanked itself to the floor then rose up from the floor with it's copies, this time in a circle formation around Aqua and Beaufort (who immediately stood back to back with each other and glance at the spirit of the mirror and it's copies circling around them with wary/cautious looks on their faces) before the spirit and it's copies shoot another series of Fira magic attack out of their mouths at Aqua and Beaufort.

Beaufort quickly raised his keyblade above him to casted a strong shield around him and Aqua to protect them from the series of Fira magic attack that the spirit face and it's copies fired toward them both, causing the series of Fira magic attack to crashed against and dissipated away from Beaufort's shield before he lowered his keyblade and dismissed the shield then both he and Aqua glance at the circle formation of the spirit face and it's copies circling around them to search for the real spirit face and they found and noticed that 1 of the spirit face is smirking at them both (unlike the others who had frown/serious looks on their faces). Beaufort then raised his keyblade and charge toward the smirking spirit face and he dealt another series of thrust and slash strikes on the real spirit face while Aqua hold out her keyblade in front of her to casted and launch a series of Blizzard and Thunder magic attacks at the spirit face, causing the spirit face to let out a final cry of pain before the same bright light shone brightly around Aqua and Beaufort and they quickly covered their eyes with their arms from it.

 **Back inside the chamber room…**

After both Aqua and Beaufort managed to defeat the spirit face in the mirror, the same bright light shone out of the mirror and 2 small orbs of light flew out of the mirror, stopped in the middle of the room and expand/formed into the figures of Aqua and Beaufort. Both Aqua and Beaufort lowered their arms from their faces, opened their eyes to glance around and saw that they had return back inside the chamber room before they dismissed their keyblades and turned around to glance at the spirit face in the mirror.

"The Queen is dead and gone, my service is done for good. Adieu, O victorious ones." the spirit face in the mirror bade farewell to both Aqua and Beaufort before it fade away from the mirror and the mirror return back to normal. Both Aqua and Beaufort then approach the mirror and Aqua raised and placed her hand on the mirror while letting out a sigh while Beaufort glance at the mirror with a confused look on his face.

"I don't get it about the spirit in the mirror, Aqua. What was the point of it wanting to fight us both inside the mirror before it disappear?" asked Beaufort.

"I had no idea on why it do that to us, Beaufort." replied Aqua.

"… Come on, Aqua. Let's leave this castle and head back to the place where the dwarves, Princess Snow White and the man is." Beaufort told Aqua.

"…Yeah, you're right, Beaufort. Let's go." said Aqua to Beaufort before they turned away from the mirror and walked out of the chamber room.

XXXX

 **Back on the clearing near the dwarves cottage…**

When Aqua, Beaufort and the man reached and stopped in their tracks in the clearing and the dwarf cottage where the 7 dwarves and Snow White is, they saw with sad/pity looks on their faces at the 7 dwarves, who's still kneeling and mourning in sadness/despair in front of the now opened glass coffin where Snow White still lies in. The man then walked away from both Aqua and Beaufort, walked forward past the kneeling/mourning dwarves toward Snow White and he leaned down to softly kiss Snow White's lips before he pull away, kneel down and lowered his head down on his left knee near her in sadness and despair, like the 7 dwarves. Both Aqua and Beaufort sighed and slowly shake their heads in dismay before they glance at Snow White and gasped in surprise then relieved unison when they saw her closed eyes started fluttering then opened up.

"Princess!" said Aqua.

"Look! She's waking up!" Beaufort told the 7 dwarves and the man.

Snow White rubbed her sleepy eyes with the back of her left hand (while the 7 dwarves and the man raised their heads and glance at her with joy/relieved looks on their faces after they heard what Beaufort told them) before she sat up from the glass coffin she lies on then turned to glance at the 7 dwarves (who's standing up now) and both Aqua and Beaufort standing behind them and she smiled at them. She then turned her attention at the man kneeling near her before she hold out her arms to him and he stood up and lifted Snow White up in his arms in a bridal-style manner while the 7 dwarves started celebrating by hugging, dancing and jumping around in pure happiness/joy at seeing her being miraculously brought back to life.

"That's so sweet." said Aqua as she smiled while raising and clasping her hands together on her chest.

"That's the second miracle we've seen so far." said Beaufort as he smiled as well.

As both Aqua and Beaufort continue to watched the joyful scene in front of them in silence, it make them remember the time when Ventus woke up from his unconscious/comatose state back in their home.

XXXX

 _Inside one of the rooms in the large castle of the Land of Departure, Ventus is lying on the bed inside the room in an unconscious/comatose state while both Aqua and Beaufort stand near the bed and watched him with worried looks on their faces._

" _Ventus, why won't you wake up?" said Aqua in a worry tone of voice to Ventus._

" _Don't you worry so much, Aqua. I'm sure that he'll wake up soon." said Beaufort in a reassuring tone of voice to Aqua._

 _Aqua let out a small sigh and nodded to Beaufort before she turned around and began walking away from Beaufort and Ventus while Beaufort continue to watched him in silence. Just as Aqua was about to walked out of the room, Beaufort widened his eyes in surprise then relieved when he saw that Ventus suddenly started to move a little and let out a weak groan before he slowly opened his eyes (which is blank-looking) and sat up from the bed._

" _Aqua! Look, he's waking up!" Beaufort quickly told Aqua (who immediately turned around and gasped in surprise then relieved as well)._

" _Oh my god, you're right, Beaufort! He really woke up! It's a miracle!" said Aqua in a happy/relieved tone of voice to Beaufort as she walked back and stopped near the bed to glance at Ventus._

" _I'm going to tell the others now!" Beaufort told Aqua (who nodded to him without looking) before he turned around to walked and stopped outside the room and began calling for Terra, Josette and their master. "Terra! Josette! Master Eraqus! Come quick, you guys! Ventus's has woke up!"_

 _Terra, Josette and Master Eraqus heard Beaufort calling out to them about Ventus waking up and they immediately run toward and run past Beaufort into the room and all 3 of them smiled in joy/relieved at seeing that Ventus has woke up._

XXXX

Both Aqua and Beaufort watched in silence as Snow White kisses each of the 7 dwarves on their heads while smiling/chuckling at them before she glance at the man, who approach and lifted her up in his arms before he turned and began carrying her down the path toward the bridge leading into the dark forest away from the dwarves (who smiled and raised and waved their arms to bade farewell to Snow White and she smiled and wave back to them) and from both Aqua and Beaufort.

"Every waking is a new journey. Maybe Ven and Jo left… because it was their time. Don't you think so, Beaufort?" said Aqua before she asked and glance at Beaufort.

"Yeah, I do think so too, Aqua." replied Beaufort as he glance at her as well.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: Castle of dreams, part 1**

Inside a partially dark, old and a little dusty room which had a single-sized bed leaning against the left-sided brick wall with a slightly tall wooden table with a single candle on it standing next to the bed, a partially large wooden cupboard leaning against the right-sided wall with another identical slightly tall wooden table standing next to the cupboard, a young fair-skinned, long blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman (who's wearing a white and dark brown-coloured long sleeve bodice/shirt, a long light-brown coloured knee-length skirt with a white-coloured apron tied around her waist, dark brown-coloured flats and a blue-coloured ribbon which tied her hair up into a ponytail) is sitting on a wooden bench near the opened window of her room and staring out the opened window at the distance large and brightly lit, pale blue-coloured castle beyond the large forest in front of it before she let out a sigh of sadness and dismay. Suddenly a small brown mouse wearing a dark red-coloured shirt with light red-coloured cotton jacket over it, matching red-coloured hat on his head and brown-coloured flats came running out of a small hole in the bottom right corner of the wall near the cupboard and toward the bed.

"Cinderella! Cinderella! Come on! Gotta hurry! Gotta hurry!" said the mouse as he stopped in his tracks near the bottom of the bed before he started climbing up the wooden frame of the bed until he's standing on top of the bed's wooden frame in front of the fair-skinned, long blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman named Cinderella (who turned to glance at the mouse standing on the wooden frame of her bed after she heard him calling her).

"What is it, Jag? What's all the fuss about?" Cinderella asked the mouse named Jag in a kind/gentle tone of voice.

"Some new peoples in the house, Cinderella! Peoples that I never saw before." replied Jag.

"Oh, new friends. Where are they?" Cinderella said/asked Jag for the second time.

"They're caught inside a trap-trap, Cinderella! In the living room down the stairs!" replied Jag in a worry tone of voice to Cinderella.

"What? Oh, the poor dears." said Cinderella in a worry tone of voice to Jag as well before she stood up from the bench she sat on, walked swiftly toward the wooden door of her bedroom to open it and went through the door then she walked down the stairs toward the living room to help in freeing the ones caught in the trap.

XXXX

 **Meanwhile, in the trap inside the living room…**

Ventus is currently pacing back and forth inside the oval-shaped black-coloured trap while Josette is sitting in the left corner of the trap with her legs pressed up against her chest and her arms around it as she glance at Ventus pacing back and forth with a slight annoy scowl on her face (after both she and Ventus take a very shocked and thorough glance at the large room around and above them and they saw that the walls and ceiling of the room is white and light blue in colour with a large, bright chandelier hanging high in the middle of the ceiling above them, a large and long maroon-coloured couch leaning against the wall next to a large white and dark yellow-coloured cupboard (which also leaned against the wall) opposite them, a semi-large, light brown and dark-green coloured wooden dresser cabinet with a long dark brown-coloured clock standing on it leaning against the wall to their right, a large and tall wooden table leaning against the wall below an opened window with several books on it to their left and dozens of books, boxes and clothes scattering on the table, couch and floor in different corners of the room).

"What is going on, Jo? How is it that we became so small all of a sudden and we're caught inside a trap soon after we arrived in this world?" Ventus asked Josette.

"I don't know, Ven. I had no idea on how we suddenly became so small and got caught in this trap." replied Josette in a slightly sarcastic then annoy tone of voice to Ventus.

Ventus ceased his pacing, turned to scowled at Josette as he raised and crossed his arms over his chest for the next 6 seconds before he uncrossed his arms, turned to look away from Josette and he grabbed the bars of the trap while staring through the bars at the large room around and above them both. "Can somebody tell us how we got so SMALL!" Ventus yelled out to the empty room before he let out a deep sigh and lowered his head to stared down at the floor.

The next second, both Ventus and Josette (who stood up from the ground) heard and saw the large white-coloured door of the room opened inward and they saw Cinderella and Jag came walking through the door into the room before they approach the trap which both Ventus and Josette are caught in and Cinderella picked up the trap, which causes both Ventus and Josette to cried out as they lost their balance before they fell and rolled down toward the back of the trap.

"There there, don't be afraid, you two." said Cinderella in a reassuring tone of voice to both Ventus and Josette as she opened the lid of the trap, look into it and let out a surprise gasp. "Oh my! How interesting… I've never seen mices like you two before." said Cinderella to both Ventus and Josette.

"Mices? Did you just call us mices?" said Ventus as he glance at Cinderella in confusion then outraged.

"What's wrong with your eyes, lady? We're not mices, we're people!" Josette told Cinderella as she scowled darkly at Cinderella for calling her and Ventus mices.

"Jag, why don't you help in explaining things to them both?" Cinderella told Jag before she lowered and placed the trap back down onto the floor (which nearly causes both Ventus and Josette to lost their balance) then she kneel down and watched while Jag walked through the opened lid of the trap toward both Ventus and Josette and stopped in front of them.

"Now, now, now. Look, little guy and girl. Take it easy. Nothing to worry about. We like you two." said Jag in a reassuring tone of voice to both Ventus and Josette.

"Ven, it's a walking and talking mouse." whisper Josette in a surprise tone of voice to Ventus.

"Yeah, I know, Jo." Ventus whisper back to her, surprise as well.

"Cinderella likes you two too. She's a nice lady, very nice." Jag resumed saying/telling both Ventus and Josette before he turned and raised his head to glance up at Cinderella through the bars of the trap (while she glance and smiled silently down at them), same goes for both Ventus and Josette. Jag then glance away from Cinderella to glance back at them. "Come on now, you two. Zugk-zugk." Jag told both Ventus and Josette before he turned and began to walked toward the opened lid of the trap and walked out of it, with both Ventus and Josette following closely behind him and they walked through the opened lid and out of the trap as well.

"My name is Jag." said Jag as he turned around and introduced himself to both Ventus and Josette.

"Hi, Jag. I'm Ventus. Call me Ven. And this is my friend, Josette, but you can call her Jo." said Ventus as he introduced himself and Josette to Jag.

"Hello, nice to meet you, Jag. And you too, Cinderella." said Josette as she smiled at Jag then at Cinderella.

"It's nice to meet you two as well, Ven, Jo." said Cinderella.

"Okay, Ven, Jo. Need something? Ask Jag!" Jag told both Ventus and Josette, who nodded their heads to him.

"Cinderella!" the voice of a woman suddenly called out to Cinderella through the opened door of the living room, which caused Cinderella to let out a small sigh and her shoulders drooped a little when she heard the woman calling for her.

"Oh well, time for me to get to my chores. I'll see you two in a little while, Ven, Jo." said Cinderella to both Ventus and Josette before she stood up, turned to her left and began to walked toward the door and leave the room.

"Wow, I guess she's got her hands full." said Ventus.

"Yep, Ven, work, work, work! Stepmother keeps Cinderella busy all day!" said Jag as he turned around to glance and nodded his head to Ventus.

"Is that so?" said Josette as she glance at the opened door which Cinderella just walked through with a frown look on her face.

"She didn't seem to mind much, though." said Ventus.

"No, not Cinderella. She works hard. She's got a dream- a big dream. The dream's gonna come true!" Jag told both Ventus and Josette.

"A big dream that will come true for her, huh?" said Josette with a small smile on her face.

"That sounds like somebody that Jo and I know." said Ventus with a small smile on his face as well before both he and Josette glance at each other as they briefly remember back on 1 of their memories about Terra.

XXXX

 _Being a Keyblade Master is all I've dreamed about._

 _XXXX_

After both Ventus and Josette briefly remember that certain memory about Terra, Ventus then turned to glance at Jag and began asking him a question. "Hey, maybe you can help me and Jo find him, Jag! His name's Terra and he travelling with a girl named Kallima. Have you seen them both?"

"Eh, no, Ven. I never saw Terra or Kallima before." replied Jag as he turned to glance at Ventus before he lowered his head a little.

"Oh, well. It was worth a shot." said Ventus before he sighed in disappointment and glance away from Jag.

"Don't be so disappointed, Ven. I'm sure that we'll see Terra soon and also see and met this Kallima girl which Terra is travelling with." said Josette in a soft/reassuring tone of voice to Ventus.

"Yeah, I guess you're right, Jo." said Ventus as he glance and smiled at her.

"Come on. Follow me, you two. You two gotta see the house." Jag told both Ventus and Josette before he turned away from them and began to walked toward the mouse hole at the bottom of the wall several feet away next to the tall and semi-large wooden cabinet.

"H-Hey!" said Ventus.

"Wait for us, Jag!" said Josette as well before both she and Ventus followed swiftly behind Jag toward the mouse hole, went through and into it before they turned to their left and walked down the floor past the tall and huge dull blue-coloured walls on both sides of them, climbed up several huge dull blue-coloured stones leaning in the right corner of the wall until they reached the top of the wooden floor (while both Ventus and Josette summoned forth their keyblades to fight/defeat the Floods, Scrappers, Bruisers and Red Hot Chili Unverseds (which also surprises them when they saw that the Unverseds were also as small as them) along the way) then they walked down the floor, went through another mouse hole and found themselves inside Cinderella's room before Jag lead them across the wooden floor toward the large wooden bench near the opened window and they climbed up the wooden bench until they reached and stand at the opened window and they glance at the distance large and brightly lit, pale blue-coloured castle.

"What's that building over there?" Ventus asked Jag.

"Oh, come on, Ven. Can't you tell? That building is a castle." said Josette as she sighed at Ventus (which caused him to scowled at her).

"Yep, Jo's right, Ven. That's the palace- the King's palace." Jag told Ventus while he nodded to Josette. "There's going to be a big ball there tonight."

"A big ball, huh? Sounds like fun." said Josette with a smile on her face.

"I see. Is Cinderella going to the ball tonight, Jag?" Ventus asked Jag.

"I don't know, Ven…" said Jag before he let out a sad sigh.

Suddenly, Ventus, Josette and Jag heard the sound of the door opening behind them and when all 3 of them turned around to see who is it, they saw Cinderella closed the door behind her, walked into the room before she glance and smiled at them.

"Hello, you three. Have you become friends already?" Cinderella asked them.

Ventus, Josette and Jag turned to look away from Cinderella, look at each other and they nodded their heads in unison before they glance back at Cinderella.

"Oh, that's wonderful, you three." said Cinderella in a happy tone of voice to Ventus, Josette and Jag before she started humming while slowly taking a black-coloured wooden mannequin wearing a short sleeve pink-coloured shirt with a long, floor-length white-coloured skirt and a pink ribbon wrapped firmly around the waist of the dress out of the cupboard and lowering it on the floor before she began working on the dress.

"That's a really pretty dress you have, Cinderella." Josette told Cinderella.

"Why, thank you for your nice compliment about the dress, Jo." said Cinderella happily to Josette without looking at her.

"You sure do look happy, Cinderella." said Ventus.

"Mm, you're right, Ven. Because I'm going to the royal ball tonight." said Cinderella as she turned around to glance at Ventus, Josette and Jag before she sighed dreamily. "I guess dreams really do come true."

"Cinderella!" the same woman's voice suddenly called loudly out to her through the closed door of her room and Cinderella turned to glance at the door while letting out another sigh.

"Looks like my dress will have to wait." said Cinderella in a dismay tone of voice to herself before 2 more unfamiliar, younger women voices calling loudly out to her through the closed door as well. "All right, all right, I'm coming!" Cinderella called back to the 2 younger women voices calling for her before she walked toward the door, opened and closed it behind her and leave the room.

"Poor Cinderella… She's not going to the ball." said Jag sadly to both Ventus and Josette.

"Why not?" asked Ventus as he glance at Jag with a clueless look on his face.

"Most probably because of those women who always called for her to do things, Ven. Isn't it, Jag?" Josette told Ven before she asked Jag.

"Yep, you're right, Jo. They'll fix her. Work, work, work. She'll never get her dress done." said Jag sadly to both Ventus (who glance at the dress with a sad/sympathetic look on his face) and Josette (who crossed her arms over her chest as she began thinking in silence before she got an idea).

"Hey, I think I've an idea on how to help her out, Ven, Jag. Why don't we help fix her dress for her?" Josette told both Ventus and Jag her idea.

"That's a really good idea, Jo!" said Jag as he grinned widely and nodded his head slightly vigorously at Josette (who smiled back at him).

"Huh, we will, Jo? Are you serious?" said Ventus as he glance at Josette with a surprise look on his face.

"Of course I'm serious, Ven! Don't you want to help in making Cinderella's dream come true?" Josette told Ventus (who crossed his arms over his chest in silence for the next 6 seconds before he uncrossed his arms and nodded to Josette).

"Yeah, you're right, Jo. Alright then, let's help fix Cinderella's dress for her." Ventus told Josette (who smiled at him) before he glance at Jag. "So what do we need to get for the dress, Jag?" Ventus asked Jag.

"You and Jo can look around the house. There are lots of pretty things lying around." replied Jag.

"Alright, Jag. We got it." said Josette.

"Yeah, both Jo and I will leave to find whatever we need. Jag, you get things set and ready up here." said Ventus.

"Zugk, zugk! Ven, Jo!" said Jag to both Ventus and Josette (who nodded to him) before he watched them turned and jumped from the wooden bench and landed safely on the floor. "Oh and Ven, Jo! Be careful of Lucifer!" Jag warned them both.

"… Huh?" said Josette as she turned around and glance up at Jag in confusion.

"Roos-sa-fee?" said Ventus as he turned around and glance up at Jag in confusion as well.

"Lucifer is a cat! He's very mean… sneaky… He'll jump at you, bite at you! So watch out!" Jag warned them both for the second time.

"Gotcha, Jag." said Ventus as he nodded to Jag.

"We'll be careful and watch ourselves." Josette told Jag as she nodded to him as well before both she and Ventus turned and run across the floor toward the mouse hole, run through the mouse hole and into the tall inner wall of the house, run to the edge of the inner wooden floor, jumped down the stones one by one until they landed safely on the floor then they run across the floor past the tall walls on both sides of them until they reached and run out of the mouse hole and back inside the large living room.

After both Ventus and Josette run out of the mouse hole and into the large living room, they decided to split up to search for the necessary clothing items for Cinderella's dress in the living room and Ventus managed to find and get a length of soft pink-coloured fabric lying on the floor near a pile of discarded dresses before he spotted, run toward and climbed up the maroon-coloured couch to get the pretty piece of white-coloured lace lying on it while Josette had to run toward and climbed up two huge and thick green and red-coloured books to get the pretty white-coloured sash lying at the top of the books after she saw it before she turned around, saw a single white-coloured button lying on the wooden dresser cabinet near the books she's standing on and she immediately jumped from the books over to the wooden dresser cabinet easily to get the button before she jumped down from the dresser cabinet, landed safely on the floor and regroup with Ventus before they take another look at the room around them, saw the final clothing item (which is a spool of pink-coloured thread) lying on the floor under the tall table near the door and they swiftly make their way toward the pink-coloured thread and Josette take it before both she and Ventus turned around, swiftly make their way toward the mouse hole, went through and into it and they make their way back into Cinderella's room where Jag is waiting patiently for them both near the bottom of the dress and they handed the 5 clothing items which they saw and obtain in the living room over to him.

"Yes, very good, Ven, Jo! These 5 items are exactly what Cinderella's dress needs!" said Jag in a happy/approving tone of voice to both Ventus and Josette as he look at each of the 5 clothing items that they obtained and handed over to him. "But there's still one more missing item."

"One more missing item? Like what, Jag?" asked Josette.

"It still needs a pretty pearl." replied Jag.

"Alright, leave it to us, Jag." said Ventus as he and Josette nodded to Jag before they turned around and run across the floor toward the mouse hole again.

XXXX

 **Back in the living room…**

After both Ventus and Josette walked out of the mouse hole and into the living room for the second time to search for the pearl, they quickly hide themselves behind the leg of a wooden table nearby them when they saw a large, black cat sleeping soundly on the floor in the middle of the room.

"That must be the Roos-sa-fee, I mean, the Lucifer cat that Jag warned us about, Ven." Josette whisper to Ventus.

"Yeah, Jo. And look over there in front of it, that must be the pearl that Jag wanted us to get." Ventus whisper back to Josette as he raised and pointed a finger at the round-shaped, greenish-blue coloured pearl lying on the floor near the sleeping cat. "I'll go and get the pearl quietly, Jo. You stay here." Ventus whisper/told Josette.

"Alright, Ven. Be careful." Josette whisper back to him.

Ventus glance and nodded to her before he quietly walked out from his hiding spot behind the table leg and away from Josette, tip-toeing his way across the floor toward the sleeping cat, stopped in his tracks in front of it and he raised and briefly waved his left hand in front of the cat's sleeping face and didn't received any response. Seeing that the cat is still asleep, Ventus swiftly and quietly picked the pearl up from the floor, turned around and began to tip-toe back the way he came from just as Lucifer opened it's eyes (which is green-coloured and quite sinister-looking), saw Ventus tip-toeing away from it and it quietly get up and raised it's left paw high above Ventus in preparation to strike him down (which caused Josette to gasped and widen her eyes in fear/panic).

"Ven! Watch out! Behind you!" Josette cried out to Ventus.

"Huh?" said Ventus before he raised his head to look behind him, gasped and quickly dodged to his right just as Lucifer slammed it's paw down on the previous spot that he's tip-toeing on. After Lucifer failed to strike Ventus's down, it then turned to glared and hissed at Ventus before it raised it's paw above him in preparation for another strike.

"Ven!" Jag's voice suddenly cried out to Ventus from above the dresser cabinet, causing Ventus, Josette and Lucifer to raised their heads to glance up at Jag and they saw him standing on the dresser cabinet and holding a dark blue-coloured ball of yarn above his head (while several more different colour ball of yarns were behind him) before he threw the ball of yarn toward Lucifer and it knock and bounce off the Lucifer's forehead, causing Lucifer to let out a small meowing sound of surprise.

"Hurry, Ven! Run over here now!" said Josette as she raised and waved her right hand frantically at Ventus to tell him to hurry and Ventus quickly run toward her while Jag grab and threw the ball of yarns one by one at Lucifer, who immediately run around the room to avoid getting hit by the ball of yarns that Jag is throwing at it before Lucifer run toward and rammed it's body against the dresser cabinet that Jag's standing on, causing him to lose his balance, fell off the edge and landed face-first on the floor.

"Oh no, Jag!" said Josette in a worry tone of voice when she (and Ventus) saw him fell from the dresser cabinet and landed on the floor.

"Ooh, that hurt…" said Jag as he slowly sat up from the floor and rubbed his rear for a few seconds before he raised his head to look up and saw that Lucifer had raised it's paw in preparation to strike him down and he cried out in fear before he closed his eyes and covered his face with his hands.

Both Ventus and Josette immediately summoned forth their Wayward Wind and Helianthus keyblades, charge toward and got between Lucifer and Jag and they swung and slammed their keyblades against Lucifer's paw to knock it's paw away. Lucifer hissed and shook it's slightly bruised paw for a short while before it glared at both Ventus and Josette for interfering.

"We won't let you hurt Jag!" Josette snapped at Lucifer.

"That's right! Time to play, cat!" snapped Ventus as he brandish his keyblade in front of him in confidence.

"Ven! Jo!" said Jag in a relieved/grateful tone of voice from behind Ventus and Josette after he lowered his hands and opened his eyes and see them standing in front of him.

"Jag, take the pearl and run to the mousehole now!" Josette told Jag without looking back at him.

"Jo's right, Jag! We'll hold him off, go now!" said Ventus as he holds the pearl behind his back and handed it to Jag.

"Okay, Ven, Jo!" said Jag as he take the pearl from Ventus, turned to his left and run toward the mouse hole with the pearl in his hands, leaving both Ventus and Josette behind to deal with Lucifer.

Lucifer hissed at Ventus and Josette before it raised it's left paw above it's head and swung it's paw down on them to strike them down, but both Ventus and Josette quickly dodge roll to their left and right to avoid getting themselves smack by Lucifer's paw. After they dodge roll away from Lucifer's paw attack, Ventus jumped onto Lucifer's back and he landed a series of hard strikes and slashes on it's back while Josette hold out her keyblade in front of her to cast a series of Fire and Blizzard magic attacks at Lucifer's face, body and legs. Lucifer hissed and yowled quite loudly in anger and pain from Ventus attacking on it's back and Josette casting magic attacks at it's entire body before Lucifer started running wildly around the room to try to throw Ventus off it's back (which caused Ventus to ceased his attacks and he quickly grabbed hold of Lucifer's black furs tightly to avoid falling down from it's back) and Josette ceased her magic attacks to run and dodge away from Lucifer's wild running around the room until Lucifer crashed himself hard against the dresser cabinet and it lie on the floor with it's eyes rolling around in a daze. The impact of Lucifer's crashing hard against the dresser cabinet caused Ventus to let go of his tight grip on Lucifer's furs and he fell down from Lucifer's back, crashed on Josette (which cause her to cried out in surprise and pain) and they fell with a hard, painful thud on the floor.

"Ow, Ven. Again?" groaned Josette in an annoy/pained tone of voice to Ventus.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Jo! Here, let me help you up!" said Ventus in a worry tone of voice to Josette before he quickly got off her, stand up then hold out his right hand to Josette (who clasped her hand in his before he help her stand up and she raised her keyblade above them both to cast Cure on themselves to healed their bruised wounds).

"It's fine, Ven. Come on, let's take this cat down!" Josette told Ventus (who nodded to her) before they turned and charge toward Lucifer (who's no longer in a daze) and landed more strikes, slashes and magic attacks on it. Lucifer let out another loud hiss and yowl of anger/pain from Ventus and Josette's attacks before it turned and run toward the door and out of the living room, away from them both. Once both Ventus and Josette saw that Lucifer had run out of the room, they dismissed their keyblades just as Jag came walking out of the mouse hole, approach and stopped in his tracks near them both.

"Oh, that's a big "thank you", you two." said Jag in a thankful tone of voice to both Ventus and Josette.

"No thanks needed, Jag. You saved us before, so we'll saved you." said Ventus.

"Yeah, Ven's right, Jag. After all, that's what friends do, isn't it?" said Josette.

"Zugk zugk! Ven, Jo and Jag are good friends!" said Jag as he smiled at them.

"Yeah, good friends." said Josette, smiling back at Jag.

"Now, let's head back to Cinderella's room and get that dress finished, Jo, Jag." said Ventus to both Josette and Jag (who nodded to him) before they turned and run toward the mouse hole.

XXXX

 **An hour later…**

After Cinderella's done in doing her chores, she came back into her room, walked toward and sat down on the wooden bench near the window.

"Oh, well… what's a royal ball? After all, I suppose it would be frightfully dull and boring… and completely… completely wonderful." said Cinderella in a sad tone of voice to herself before she propped her chin on the palm of her left hand and glance at the distance castle with a longing look on her face.

"Hey, Cinderella! We've a surprise for you!" Josette called out to her from the floor near her feet and Cinderella turned and lowered her head to glance down at Josette.

"A surprise for me, Jo?" said Cinderella in a confused tone of voice to Josette.

"Yes, take a look over there!" said Josette with a nod of her head to Cinderella before she raised and pointed her finger at the direction of the cupboard and Cinderella look at the cupboard which Josette is pointing at and she saw both Ventus and Jag opening the cupboard doors to reveal her completed dress.

"Oh my. Is that my dress?" gasped Cinderella with a surprise look on her face.

"Yes. It's a present from all 3 of us, Cinderella." said Ventus before Jag nodded to Cinderella.

"Now you have a pretty dress to wear for the ball, Cinderella." Josette told Cinderella before she kneel down and lowered her right hand in front of Josette for her to walked onto her hand before Cinderella stood up, walked toward and kneel down and lowered her left hand in front of both Ventus and Jag for them to walked onto her hand before she raises them up near her face.

"Why, it's… it's such a surprise…" said Cinderella.

"Hurry! Time to go, Cinderella!" said Jag.

"Yeah, you should hurry and go to the ball now!" said Josette.

"Oh, thank you, all 3 of you." said Cinderella in a grateful/thankful tone of voice to Ventus, Josette and Jag.

XXXX

 **A few minutes later…**

After Cinderella change out of her clothes, put on her dress and leave the room to head for the ball, Ventus, Josette and Jag decided to climbed up the wooden bench and sat on the wooden edge of the opened window and glance at the distance castle.

"I hope Cinderella's dream come true." Jag told both Ventus and Josette.

"I hope so too, Jag." said Josette with a small nod of her head.

"What about you two, Ven, Jo? What are both of your dreams?" asked Jag as he turned to glance at them.

"Huh, our dreams?... I wonder…" said Ventus as he glance at Jag for a few seconds then glance away from him to glance up at the starlit night sky before he had a second brief memory flashback about Terra (same goes for Josette as well).

XXXX

 _Being a Keyblade Master is all I've dreamed about._

 _Well, you're not the only one, Terra._

 _I know, Aqua. You, me, Ven, Beau and Jo all share the same dream._

 _XXXX_

"Funny… I'd never really thought about it- at least until you asked and say it to me, Jag." said Ventus to Jag before he hold out his right hand in front of him to summoned forth his Wayward Wind keyblade. "My dream is to become a Keyblade Master." added Ventus.

"It's not just your dream, Ven. It's our dream." said Josette.

"I hope that yours and Jo's dream comes true, too." said Jag as he glance at them both.

"Thanks, Jag." said Josette as she smiled at Jag.

"We just need to keep on believing, right, Jag?" asked Ventus as he dismissed his keyblade and glance at Jag.

"Right, Ven." replied Jag with a nod of his head before the 3 of them turned their heads to resumed looking at the castle under the starlit night sky.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11: Castle of dreams, part 2**

After both Ventus and Josette bade farewell to Jag and leave, both Terra and Kallima arrived soon after Ventus and Josette's departure outside and near a partially long, tall and large white-coloured two-storey house with a red-coloured roof above it, several windows on the walls, a wooden double doors and a short staircase in front of the doors before they turned to their right and began walking toward and through the opened iron gate and away from the house. As both Terra and Kallima walked away from the house and walked into a large garden which had a semi-large fountain with a marble statue of an angel holding a vase up and near the right side of it's face as clear water poured out from the vase while the statue stands in the middle of the fountain and several thick-looking dark green-coloured bushes and some tall trees around the garden, they soon heard the sound of someone crying before they saw a fair-skinned, long blonde-haired woman wearing a long ruined pink and white-coloured dress kneeling and crying in her arms on a long gray-coloured stone bench standing against some bushes then they make their way toward Cinderella and stopped in their tracks near her.

"Hey, why are you crying, miss?" asked Kallima.

"Is something wrong?" asked Terra as he got down on one knee next to Cinderella.

"It's just that my friends made me the most beautiful dress- but my stepmother and stepsisters ruined it." Cinderella said/sobbed to both Terra and Kallima. "And I was so looking forward to the ball."

"Say what? How could they do such a cruel thing to you, miss!" said Kallima with an angry look on her face for Cinderella's stepmother and stepsisters cruelty to her while Terra had a sad/pity look on his face for Cinderella.

"Darkness always finds a way into a wounded heart. You have to be strong. Strength of heart will helped, guide and carry you through the hardest of trials." said Terra in a consoling tone of voice to Cinderella.

"Terra's right, miss." said Kallima in an agreeing tone of voice to Cinderella as well (after the angry look on her face fade away).

"But I…" Cinderella continue to said/sobbed in sadness to both Terra and Kallima before a horde of Floods and Scrappers Unverseds emerged out of the ground behind the 3 of them (which caused both Terra and Kallima to immediately turned and glared at them when they felt their presence).

"Unverseds!" exclaim Terra before both he and Kallima summoned forth their New Moon and Earthshaker keyblades, raised their keyblades and charge toward the horde of Floods and Scrappers Unverseds and they proceed to thrust, slash and strike their keyblades down onto the horde of Unverseds until they defeat/fought off all of the Unverseds and making sure that the garden was safe again before they dismissed their keyblades and turned around to glance at Cinderella, who's still crying on the bench.

"I can't believe… not anymore…" sobbed Cinderella.

"No, miss. Don't you say that." said Kallima as she got down on one knee next to Cinderella to placed her hand on Cinderella's left shoulder to console her some more while Terra crossed his arms over his chest, feeling sad for her. Suddenly both Terra and Kallima noticed dozens of twinkling lights started appearing around them and the garden before they heard a kind and gentle voice of an elderly woman speaking out from nowhere to Cinderella.

"Strength of heart is important, but that's not all you or anyone else need." said the kind and gentle voice of an elderly woman (while both Terra and Kallima continue to look at the twinkling lights around them before they glance at Cinderella and gasped in surprise when they saw the twinkling lights slowly gathered together then they merged and formed into the figure of a fair-skinned, light grey-haired elderly woman wearing a pale blue-coloured, long-sleeve cloak dress with a hood over her head and a dark red-coloured ribbon under her chin) to Cinderella as she appeared and sat on the stone bench in front of Cinderella (who's unaware that she's crying on the elderly woman's lap instead of on the bench).

"There's nothing left to believe in… nothing." sobbed Cinderella.

"Nothing, my dear? Oh, now, you don't really mean that." said the elderly woman.

"Oh… but I do. It's just no use." sobbed Cinderella.

"Nonsense, my dear! If you'd lost all of your faith, I couldn't be here, and here I am." said the elderly woman to Cinderella (who finally ceased crying and lifted her head to glance up at the elderly woman sitting on the bench in front of her) before she let out a small chuckle and helped Cinderella to stand up. "Oh, come now, dry those tears of yours. You can't go to the ball looking like this."

"The ball? Oh, but I'm not-" said Cinderella before she trailed off and gestured/show her ruined dress to the elderly woman.

"Of course you are. But we'll have to hurry." the elderly woman told Cinderella before she pull a long and thin white-coloured wand out from her long sleeve and tapped her chin with her finger as she began thinking to herself. "Now, what were those magic words? Oh yes…" said the elderly woman before she walked past Terra, Kallima and Cinderella toward a pumpkin patch, stopped in front of a large orange-coloured pumpkin and she raised and waved her wand while began chanting a spell.

"Bibbidi- bobbidi- boo!" chanted the elderly woman before a shimmering beam of white magic shot out of her wand, flew through the air then flew down toward the pumpkin and struck on it, causing it to come to life. The pumpkin slowly stood up from the ground before it bounce and rolled it's way across the ground toward the elderly woman, stopped it's bouncing/rolling near her before she waved her wand at the pumpkin to expand then transform the pumpkin into a white and golden-coloured carriage with a tall and thin coachman sitting at the front of the carriage seat and holding the long reins tying toward and around the mouths and necks of 2 white stallions.

Cinderella gasped and gawked in deep surprise then wonder/awed at the carriage, the coachman and the 2 white stallions which expand and formed from the pumpkin in front of her, Terra and Kallima (who also had looks of surprise, wonder and awed on their faces) before the elderly woman turned and waved her wand at Cinderella and both Terra and Kallima watched as another shimmering beam of white magic shot out of her wand toward Cinderella, swirled around Cinderella's body and transform her ruined dress into a beautiful silver-coloured, short sleeve floor-length dress with bicep-length white-coloured gloves on her arms, a simple black-coloured choker around her neck and her long blonde hair held up into an updo hairstyle with a white-coloured headband on it.

"Oh… It's a beautiful dress." said Cinderella in a happy/awed tone of voice to herself as she lowered her head to look down at her new dress before she lifted some of the dress fabric in her hands (and she, Terra and Kallima saw that the pair of slippers she wear on her feet are made of glass after she grasp and lifted up her dress a little) to twirled around a little before she ceased twirling, let go of the dress fabric she grasp and lifted in her hands and turned to glance at both Terra and Kallima. "What about you two? What do you think?" Cinderella asked them both.

"What do we think? Well, it's truly a beautiful dress and you look really beautiful wearing it, miss. Isn't it, Terra?" Kallima smiled and complimented the new dress that Cinderella is now wearing (which the elderly woman did by casting her magic to transform Cinderella's ruined dress into a new one) before she glance at Terra (who smiled and nodded his head in silent agreement).

Cinderella smiled at Kallima's complimentary words and Terra's silent nod of agreement to her before she turned around and walked swiftly toward the fountain and look down at her reflection in the water. "Why… it's a dream come true!" said Cinderella in a happy tone of voice to herself.

"Yes, but like all dreams… I'm afraid this can't last forever." the elderly woman told Cinderella (who turned around and glance at her). "You'll have only till midnight, and then, on the stroke of twelve, the spell will be broken, and everything will be as it was before."

"Yes, I understand." said Cinderella as she approach and nodded her head to the elderly woman before she gave her a hug. After she hugged and pull away from the elderly woman, she turned and walked toward the carriage, climbed and sit inside the carriage before she look out the carriage window, raised and waved her left hand goodbye to Terra, Kallima and the elderly woman (who raised and waved their hands goodbye to her) as the coachman and the 2 stallions rode/drove the carriage and it's single passenger toward the tall and large castle standing beyond the forest to attend the ball.

"Her heart was full of light. Why didn't I see it?" said Terra almost quietly to himself.

"Only now you noticed, Terra? She's another one of the princesses of Heart." Kallima told and glance at Terra with a disbelief look on her face.

"She is? I didn't noticed." said Terra in an apologetic tone of voice to Kallima before he turned to glance at the elderly woman. "What did you do? I can hardly tell that she's the same person from a few seconds ago." Terra asked the elderly woman.

"Who are you two?" asked the elderly woman as she turned and glance at both Terra and Kallima.

"I'm Terra. And this is Kallima." said Terra as he introduced himself and Kallima (who nodded her head) to the elderly woman.

"It's nice to meet you two, Terra, Kallima. I'm Cinderella's Fairy Godmother." said the elderly woman as she introduced herself to them both as well before she asked them both a question. "Tell me, you two, in your hearts, do you two believe that dreams can come true?"

"Of course we do believe, Fairy Godmother. It's just that it's not an easy task sometimes." replied Kallima.

"Kallima's got a point. Because we believe that in order to make dreams come true, we've to overcome many challenges and efforts so that dreams will come true." said Terra in an agreeing tone of voice to Kallima.

"Yes, of course, you two. But sometimes just believing in dreams is easier said than done." said the Fairy Godmother to both Terra and Kallima. "Cinderella believes that her dreams can come true. I wanted her to see that she's right."

"So that's what made her shine- faith in her heart that anything is possible." said Terra as he turned to glance at the tall castle beyond the forest for a few seconds before he glance back at Fairy Godmother. "Where did she go?" Terra asked the Fairy Godmother.

" _Seriously, Terra? We just saw her head off to the ball in the castle and you're asking her on where Cinderella went to?"_ thought Kallima in her mind before she slowly shake her head in disbelief at Terra.

"To the royal ball at the palace." replied the Fairy Godmother. "Go, you two. And when you two see her dancing… you two will know that she believes, and that will help you both to believe too."

"Alright, Fairy Godmother. Thanks." said Kallima in a thankful tone of voice to the Fairy Godmother before both she and Terra nodded their heads to her, turned and began making their way away from the Fairy Godmother (who watched them walked away for a few seconds before she vanished into thin air) toward the castle beyond the forest. After both Terra and Kallima entered and make their way through and walked out of the other side of the forest and saw that they're now standing in front of the tall iron gates of the castle, they then opened and went through the iron gates into the castle's huge courtyard (which had a huge, square-shaped fountain built in the middle of the courtyard with a long and huge square-shaped garden against the wall around the fountain with several tall trees planted in the garden) before they walked down the courtyard past the fountain and the garden, walked up the stairs in front of the castle's tall front doors and they saw a group of Floods Unverseds surrounding Cinderella (who had a fearful look on her face when she saw the Floods Unverseds suddenly appear and surround her).

"Not here, too!" growled Terra.

"All of you get away from her!" said Kallima to the group of Floods Unverseds surrounding Cinderella (who closed her eyes while she raised and placed her hands on her head) before both she and Terra summoned forth their Earthshaker and New Moon keyblades and they run forward and swung/slash their keyblades at the group of Floods Unverseds and got rid of them. After both Terra and Kallima got rid of the group of Floods Unverseds that appear and surround Cinderella, she lowered her hands from her head, opened her eyes and let out a small gasp of surprise when she saw them both.

"Aren't you two the ones I saw before…" said Cinderella to both Terra and Kallima.

"Yes, we are, Cinderella. Are you alright?" Kallima asked Cinderella without looking back at her.

"Yes, I'm alright now, thanks to you two." replied Cinderella.

Kallima nodded before she glance at Terra. "This isn't good, Terra. If there are Unverseds outside of this castle, then there might be more Unverseds inside this castle as well." Kallima told Terra.

"You might be right, Kallima." said Terra to Kallima before he began speaking to Cinderella. "We'll take care of them. You wait right here."

"Please, may I go with you two? I so want to get to the ball." said Cinderella to both Terra and Kallima as she slowly approach them.

Both Terra and Kallima turned their heads to glance at her before they glance at each other and slowly nodded their heads together.

"Very well then, Cinderella. You may come with us but only if you stay behind us or you'll get hurt." Kallima told Cinderella.

"Yes, I understand." said Cinderella with a small nod of her head to Kallima.

"Aren't you worried?" asked Terra.

"Yes, I am. But didn't you told me that it was important to stay strong?" replied Cinderella.

"That's right, Terra. You did told her that to reassured and console her." said Kallima as she smiled at Terra.

"Oh, um… I guess I did." said Terra as his face turned a little red from embarrassment (which caused both Kallima and Cinderella to chuckled a little at his embarrass reaction).

"So… you ready?" asked Terra.

"Yes, I'm ready." replied Cinderella with a small nod of her head to Terra.

"Then let's head in to the ball." said Kallima to both Terra and Cinderella before the 3 of them opened the door in front of them and walked into the castle.

As Terra, Kallima and Cinderella walked through the front door of the castle and into a tall and long hallway, both Terra and Kallima then helped in escorting Cinderella down the hallway (while also protecting Cinderella from the many Unverseds that appear out of the ground in front of them before they fought and defeat the Unverseds with their keyblades) until they reached and stopped in their tracks in front of another tall door that leads into the large foyer room, opened it and they walked into the foyer (which had a huge staircase leading up toward the large ballroom in front of them and another tall door far to their left which leads into another different room) before they walked forward then walked up the huge staircase, reached the top of it and stopped in their tracks in front of the large ballroom (which only had 2 men and 3 women standing in different floors/corners of the large ballroom).

"Thank you for escorting and protecting me until we reached the ballroom, um…." said Cinderella in a thankful tone of voice to both Terra and Kallima before she trailed off into silence since she doesn't know their names.

"Terra." said Terra, introducing himself to Cinderella.

"Kallima." said Kallima, introducing herself to Cinderella as well.

"Thank you, Terra. And you too, Kallima." said Cinderella in a kind/polite tone of voice to them both.

Kallima smiled and nodded to Cinderella while Terra bowed to Cinderella and gesture/spread out his left arm in a gentleman manner to silently tell her to go into the ballroom, making both Kallima and Cinderella smiled and chuckled at his gentlemanly manner before Cinderella walked away from them both into the ballroom, stopped in her tracks to glance and bowed to a tall fair-skinned, short black-haired, black-eyed and short mustache man (called the Grand Duke who glance and bowed back to her) wearing a long sleeve, pale blue-coloured shirt with dark grey-coloured frilly epaulets on his shoulders, dark red-coloured cloth tied around his upper body and a single badge on it, a brown-coloured belt around his waist, long dark-blue coloured pants and black-coloured shoes on his legs as he stand with his back against the wall of the ballroom.

As Cinderella glance and bowed to the Grand Duke standing with his back against the wall of the ballroom, a fair-skinned, short black-haired, brown-eyed handsome man (who is the Prince) wearing a long sleeve pale golden-coloured shirt with dark yellow-coloured frilly epaulets on his shoulders, white-coloured gloves on his hands, long red-coloured pants and black-coloured shoes on his legs slowly make his way toward her (which make her gasped a little in surprise when she saw him approaching) before he stopped in his tracks in front of Cinderella and he bowed to her (which make her bowed back to him). The prince then hold out his right hand to Cinderella and she placed her left hand in his (while both Terra and Kallima saw that the Grand Duke standing with his back against the wall immediately turned to his left and gestured to the musicians to begin playing their music for the ball) before they walked toward the center of the ballroom and began dancing together.

"Maybe just believing is enough." said Terra as he (and Kallima) watched the prince and Cinderella dancing together.

"Yeah, seeing as how Cinderella is dancing happily with the man who just ask her to dance." said Kallima as she nodded her head in agreement at Terra's words.

"But who is she, Mother?" asked a fair-skinned, long red-haired, green-eyed young woman wearing a short sleeve dark pink-coloured long dress and a large matching feather behind the back of her head to her mother (which caused both Terra and Kallima to glance at her and the other 2 women).

"Do we know her?" asked a second fair-skinned, long black-haired, green-eyed young woman wearing a short sleeve green-coloured long dress and a large blue-coloured feather behind the back of her head to her mother as well.

"Well, the prince certainly seems so. I've never seen her before." said the first young woman.

"Nor I. But she certainly is…. Wait! There is something familiar about her…" said a third fair-skinned, short grey-haired, green-eyed older woman wearing an elbow sleeve dark purple-coloured long dress with her hands clasped together in front of her to the 2 young women standing with her.

Both Terra and Kallima look away from the 3 women to continue to watched and smiled at Cinderella as she enjoyed her dance with the prince and just as they were about to turned and leave the ballroom, they saw a group of Floods Unverseds appearing up on the balcony on the right side of the wall in the ballroom.

"Unverseds!" exclaim Terra to Kallima before they turned and approach the Grand Duke (who turned and glance at them when he heard them approaching) standing near the wall.

"Excuse me, how do we get up there?" Kallima asked the Grand Duke while she raised and pointed her finger at the balcony.

"Well, there is a passage beneath the foyer staircase that you and this young man with you can use to head to the balcony, milady." the Grand Duke answered Kallima's question after he cleared his throat.

"Thanks! Come on, Kallima!" said Terra in a thankful tone of voice to the Grand Duke before he told Kallima to come with him and they quickly turned and run out of the ballroom, run down the stairs toward the large foyer, turned to their left to run toward and opened the tall double doors and run through the opened doors, run down a hallway then run up another staircase and past a small antechamber room until they reached and stopped in their tracks on the ballroom balcony and summoned forth their keyblades while looking around the balcony for any sign of the group of Floods Unverseds that they just saw seconds ago and didn't see any sign of them.

The next second, both Terra and Kallima saw a tall and large humanoid Unversed (which looks like a marching band conductor) wearing a long sleeve dark pink-coloured shirt, long white-coloured pants and black-coloured boots on it's legs and a dark pink-coloured hat on it's head (named Symphony Master) appear and floated in thin air in front of them before it raised the bolt-shaped baton it holds in it's right hand then it summoned forth 3 musical instruments (which turns out to be a large trumpet, a drum and a violin) and the Symphony Master started waving it's baton wildly around to control/use the 3 musical instruments floating around it to played a kind of dissonant music sound which drilled forward and into both Terra and Kallima's ears, which make them grunted in pain from the music sound of it drilling into their ears before they cried out when a beam of light energy explode on the spot where they're standing on the balcony and they vanished into thin air after the beam of light energy dissipated away. The Symphony Master then look around at the balcony to see where both Terra and Kallima had disappear to with a confused look on it's face.

"We're down here!" Terra yelled to the Symphony Master (who turned and glance at them both when it heard Terra yell at it before it floated forward and stopped in front of them) as he and Kallima raised and pointed their keyblades at Symphony Master.

"Guards! Guards! Oh, where could they possibly be?" said the Grand Duke with an annoyed look on his face when he saw that no guards had come after he called for them (while both the prince and Cinderella stand behind the Grand Duke with worried/fearful looks on their faces).

"We'll take care of this." Terra told the Grand Duke, the prince and Cinderella standing behind him and Kallima.

"All of you, get yourselves to safety now." Kallima added to the 3 of them and they nodded their heads in agreement to both Terra and Kallima before they quickly leave the ballroom and let both Terra and Kallima to stay behind with the Symphony Master.

Both Terra and Kallima charge forward to the Symphony Master with their keyblades at the same time the Symphony Master waved it's baton to order/send the drum, trumpet and violin forward to begin attacking the 2 keyblade wielders. Both Terra and Kallima quickly dodged away from the incoming drum, the blasting sound of the trumpet and the musical sound of the violin before Terra landed a series of slashes, strikes and thrusts at the 3 musical instruments while Kallima helped him by holding out her keyblade to cast and launch a series of Fira, Blizzara and Thundara magic at them until they defeat/destroy the 3 musical instruments and both Terra and Kallima then turned their attention at Symphony Master (who's now very pissed at them both for defeating/destroying it's 3 musical instruments).

The Symphony Master then elongates and separates it's long baton into smaller batons before it threw the smaller batons toward both Terra and Kallima, who dodged away from some of the smaller batons flying toward them while deflected the other smaller batons away with their keyblades. As both Terra and Kallima dodged and deflected away the smaller batons which Symphony Master just threw at them both, Symphony Master's left arm suddenly shot toward Kallima and it grabbed hold of her (which surprises her before she begin struggling) before it drew back it's left arm and threw her toward the wall of the ballroom, causing her to crash hard against the wall before she let out a cry of pain, fell face-down to the floor and she raised her keyblade to cast Cure on herself.

"Kallima!" yelled Terra in a worried tone of voice to Kallima when he saw Symphony Master suddenly grabbed and threw her toward the wall before he glared angrily at Symphony Master and he rushes forward, jumped up above Symphony Master and he raised his keyblade to land a hard downward strike on it before he proceed to slash and strike fiercely at Symphony Master after he landed a downward strike on it.

The Symphony Master cried out in great pain from Terra's relentless slashes and strikes attacks on it before it staggered backward from Terra and it fell on one knee to the floor in a stunned/vunerable manner while it's hat fell off from it's head. When Terra saw that Symphony Master had fell on one knee to the floor in a stunned/vunerable manner, he turned and swiftly make his way toward Kallima and helped her stand up.

"Hey, you okay, Kallima?" asked Terra worriedly to Kallima.

"Yeah, I'm fine now, Terra. Don't worry." replied Kallima in a reassuring tone of voice to Terra. "Come on, let's finish it off now."

Terra nodded to her before they rush forward at the stunned/vunerable Symphony Master, raised their keyblades to dealt some more slashes, strikes and thrusts attacks on Symphony Master until it's body started to glowed with reddish-black coloured energy and it vanished into thin air. After both Terra and Kallima fought against and defeated Symphony Master and dismissed their keyblades, they turned and glance at the Grand Duke as he came back into the ballroom (with both the prince and Cinderella following closely behind him before they turned to their left and walked away from them) approach and stopped in front of them both.

"Thank you, both of you. You two saved us all." said the Grand Duke in a thankful/grateful tone of voice to both Terra and Kallima before he look at the ballroom around them and let out a disappointed sigh. "The guests were just starting to enjoy themselves…" the Grand Duke added sadly/disappointedly to himself and to them.

"Well, don't give up just yet." said Terra in a reassuring tone of voice to the Grand Duke as both he and Kallima turned to look to their right with small smiles on their faces when they see both the prince and Cinderella looking at each other and holding their hands together (which make the Grand Duke turned to look as well and he smiled widely/happily at seeing them together).

"Tell us something. Have you always had a problem with those monsters?" Kallima asked the Grand Duke.

"No, I believe… they began to appear shortly after a helmet boy and a masked girl arrived in our kingdom, milady." replied the Grand Duke. "Those who saw them both said that the monsters obeyed their every command."

"A helmet boy?" said Kallima.

"A masked girl?" said Terra before he asked the Grand Duke another question. "Do you know where they're now?"

"Well… No, sir, I don't believe anyone had seen those two since then." replied the Grand Duke.

"I see." said Terra as he raised and placed his right hand under his chin in deep thinking.

Suddenly Terra, Kallima, the Grand Duke, the prince and Cinderella heard the loud and clear sound of a bell chiming into the ballroom from outside the castle.

"Oh… My goodness! It's midnight!" exclaim Cinderella in a worry/panic tone of voice to herself.

"Yes, so it is, but why-" said the prince to Cinderella with a confused look on his face.

"Goodbye!" Cinderella told and cut off the rest of the prince's words before she turned around and quickly run away from the prince and out of the ballroom.

"Wait! Come back! Please come back!" the prince called out to Cinderella (which caused Terra, Kallima and the Grand Duke to exchange confused looks with each other).

"I'm sorry!" Cinderella called in an apologetic tone of voice back to the prince without looking as she quickly make her way down the foyer staircase while the Grand Duke quickly turned around and chased after her. Halfway on the stairs, one of her glass slippers came off her feet and as she was about to turned around and get it, she look up and saw the Grand Duke almost catching up to her and she decided to leave the glass slipper behind and run down the remaining steps of the stairs and away from the Grand Duke (who quickly bend down to picked up the glass slipper that came off Cinderella's feet).

"Mademoiselle! Senorita! Wait!" The Grand Duke called out to Cinderella (who kept on running away from him and toward the doors without looking back) as he continue to run after her. At the same time, they run past both Aqua and Beaufort (who just came into the world and watched both Cinderella and the Grand Duke run past them with surprise/confused looks on their faces) while both Terra and Kallima walked out of the ballroom to watched both Cinderella and the Grand Duke run toward the door before they saw both Aqua and Beaufort standing near the bottom of the staircase.

"Aqua! Beaufort!" Terra called out to them both (which make them turned and lifted their heads to glance up at him and Kallima when they heard him calling their names).

"Terra!" both Aqua and Beaufort called back in unison to him before both he and Kallima quickly turned and make their way down the stairs and stopped near them both.

"Terra… both Ven and Jo run away from home." Aqua told Terra.

"They what?" said Terra with a shocked look on his face.

"It's true, Terra. We think that he left to go find you and Jo decided to tag along with him." said Beaufort before he asked him a question. "Do you have any idea why?"

"No… Wait. Actually… Just before I left, he tried to tell me something." replied Terra before he slowly walked a few steps away from Kallima, Aqua and Beaufort and ceased walking. "I should have stay and listened to what he has to say before I leave."

"Oh…" said Aqua.

"It's not your fault, Terra. You didn't know that he wanted to tell you something back then." said Kallima.

"Who are you and why are you with Terra?" Beaufort asked Kallima.

"My name is Kallima, keyblade apprentice and granddaughter of Master Yen Sid. Nice to meet you two, uh…" said Kallima as she introduced herself to both Aqua and Beaufort before she trailed off into silence.

"Nice to meet you too, Kallima. My name is Aqua and this is Beaufort. We're Terra's friends." said Aqua as she introduced herself and Beaufort to Kallima.

"So you're the one that Master Eraqus told us about, the one who will help us on our mission." said Beaufort.

"Yes, that's right." said Kallima with a nod of her head to Beaufort.

"So… did you manage to locate Master Xehanort?" Aqua asked Terra.

"No, but it seems he's looking for pure hearts filled with light." replied Terra.

"Pure hearts… filled with light…" repeated Aqua.

"But why is he looking for pure hearts filled with light?" asked Beaufort in a confused tone of voice to Terra.

"We don't know the reason on why he's looking for them, yet." said Kallima.

"All Kallima and I can tell you is that his search hasn't taken him here." Terra told both Aqua and Beaufort as he began walking away from them and Kallima decided to follow after him.

"All right, Terra. Beau and I will stay here and see if we can find more clues." Aqua told Terra.

"Okay. The prince is in the ballroom ahead. He might have some answers for you and Beaufort." said Terra to both Aqua and Beaufort without looking back.

"Thanks for the tip, Terra." said Beaufort.

Just as both Terra and Kallima were about to walked through the opened door in front of them, Terra stopped and turned around to look and say something to both Aqua and Beaufort (while Kallima also turned and watched in silence). "Aqua, Beaufort." Terra called out to them and they turned to glance at him. "Do you two still share the same dream?" asked Terra.

"You mean the one we all share together, Terra?" asked Beaufort.

"Yes, Beau." replied Terra with a small nod of his head to Beaufort.

"Well… yes." said Aqua.

"There's this girl here- her name is Cinderella. She made me realize how powerful it is just to believe. No matter how impossible things seem… a powerful enough dream will always be enough to light the darkness." said Terra to both Aqua and Beaufort (who smiled and nodded to him). "If you two see her, give her my thanks." Terra added to them both.

"Will do." said Aqua.

"Of course, Terra." said Beaufort.

Terra nodded to them before he turned and walked through the opened door leading out of the castle while Kallima turned and resumed following after him.

" _The helmet boy and the masked girl who was leading the Unverseds… Who are they? Does they have anything to do with Master Xehanort's disappearance? Master Eraqus said that he first received word of these events from Kallima's grandfather, Master Yen Sid. Looks like it's time I asked Kallima about whether I can see him to ask him some questions."_ thought Terra to himself before he ceased walking and turned to glance at Kallima.

"Kallima, there's something that I wanted to ask you." said Terra.

"Yes, what is it, Terra?" said Kallima.

"I wanted to go and see your grandfather right now." Terra told Kallima.

"Why?" asked Kallima as she raised her eyebrow in suspicion at Terra.

"Because I wanted to ask him some question about the helmet boy and the masked girl who's leading the Unverseds and also about Master Xehanort's disappearance." replied Terra.

"… Very well then, Terra. Let's go see my grandfather." said Kallima.

"Thanks, Kallima." said Terra.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12: Castle of dreams, part 3**

Both Aqua and Beaufort walked into the large dark and light pink-coloured foyer room of the castle (after they arrived and landed on the next world) which had a large staircase in front of them leading up toward another room with a tall double doors built in the wall to their right. As both Aqua and Beaufort glance around the large foyer room with wonder/awed looks on their faces (while the loud and clear chiming sound of a bell rang into the foyer room from outside the castle), they suddenly heard the sound of running footsteps and the voice of a man yelling at someone from the staircase, turned to look up and they saw a fair-skinned, long blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl wearing a beautiful short-sleeve silver-coloured long dress, long white-coloured gloves on her arms, a black choker around her neck and a white-coloured headband on her head is running down the stairs away from a tall, slightly fair-skinned, short black-haired/mustache guy wearing a long sleeve light blue-coloured shirt with grey-coloured frilly epaulets on his shoulders, a long dark red-coloured cloth tied over his shirt with a single badge on it, long dark blue-coloured pants and black-coloured shoes on his legs as he hold a glass slipper in his right hand.

"Mademoiselle! Senorita! Wait!" the Grand Duke called out to Cinderella as they run past both Aqua and Beaufort (who watched them run by with surprise/confused looks on their faces) toward the doors.

"Aqua! Beaufort!" yelled the familiar voice of their close friend, Terra suddenly to both Aqua and Beaufort from the top of the stairs and they turned and lifted their heads to glance up at him (and also saw another fair-skinned, long blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl wearing a dark green-coloured dress with a white-coloured bolero jacket over it and knee-length brown-coloured boots on her legs standing next to him).

"Terra!" both Aqua and Beaufort yelled back in unison to Terra before they watched as both he and the girl standing with him quickly turned, make their way down the stairs and stopped near both Aqua and Beaufort.

"Terra… both Ven and Jo run away from home." Aqua told Terra.

"They what?" said Terra with a shocked look on his face.

"It's true, Terra. We think that he left to go find you and Jo decided to tag along with him." said Beaufort before he asked Terra a question. "Do you have any idea why?"

"No… Wait. Actually… Just before I left, he tried to tell me something." replied Terra before he slowly walked a few steps away from the girl, Aqua and Beaufort and ceased walking. "I should have stay and listened to what he has to say before I leave."

"Oh…" said Aqua.

"It's not your fault, Terra. You didn't know that he wanted to tell you something back then." said the girl.

"Who are you and why are you with Terra?" Beaufort asked the girl.

"My name is Kallima, keyblade apprentice/wielder and granddaughter of Master Yen Sid. Nice to meet you two, uh…" said the girl as she introduced herself to both Aqua and Beaufort before she trailed off into silence.

"Nice to meet you too, Kallima. My name is Aqua and this is Beaufort. We're Terra's friends." said Aqua as she introduced herself and Beaufort to the girl/fellow keyblade apprentice/wielder named Kallima.

"So you're the one that Master Eraqus told us about, the one who will help us on our mission." said Beaufort.

"Yes, that's right." said Kallima with a nod of her head.

"So… did you manage to locate Master Xehanort?" Aqua asked Terra.

"No, but it seems he's looking for pure hearts filled with light." replied Terra.

"Pure hearts… filled with light…" repeated Aqua.

"But why is he looking for pure hearts filled with light?" asked Beaufort in a confused tone of voice to Terra.

"We don't know the reason on why he's looking for them, yet." said Kallima.

"All Kallima and I can tell you is that his search hasn't taken him here." Terra told both Aqua and Beaufort before they watched as he began walking away from them and Kallima decided to follow after him.

"All right, Terra. Beau and I will stay here and see if we can find more clues." Aqua told Terra.

"Okay. The prince is in the ballroom ahead. He might have some answers for you and Beaufort." Terra told both Aqua and Beaufort.

"Thanks for the tip, Terra." said Beaufort to Terra and as both he and Aqua turned and were about to walked up the staircase, they heard Terra called out to them and they turned to glance back at him.

"Aqua, Beaufort. Do you two still share the same dream?" asked Terra.

"You mean the one we all share together, Terra?" asked Beaufort.

"Yes, Beau." replied Terra with a small nod of his head to Beaufort.

"Well… yes." Ssd Aqua.

"There's this girl here- her name is Cinderella. She made me realize how powerful it is just to believe. No matter how impossible everything seem… a powerful enough dream will always be enough to light the darkness." said Terra to both Aqua and Beaufort (who smiled and nodded to him while Kallima watched and smiled silently at him). "If you two see her, give her my thanks." Terra added to them both.

"Will do." said Aqua to Terra.

"Of course, Terra." said Beaufort to Terra as well before both he and Aqua watched as both Terra and Kallima turned and walked through the opened doors and leave the castle before they turned to look away from them.

"He'll be all right. He won't give in to it." said Aqua to herself and to Beaufort.

"Of course he won't, Aqua. Now come on, let's go see the prince." Beaufort told Aqua (who nodded to him) before they make their way up the foyer staircase and walked into the large ballroom. After both Aqua and Beaufort walked into the ballroom and walked past a fair-skinned, short grey-haired, green-eyed elderly woman wearing an elbow sleeve dark purple-coloured long dress with 2 fair-skinned, long red-haired and black-haired, green-eyed young women wearing 2 short sleeves dark pink and green-coloured long dress on them and 2 large matching feathers behind the back of their heads walking behind her, they suddenly felt the presence of darkness in the hearts of the 3 women which they just walked past and they stopped in their tracks to glance at them (while they also saw that the Grand Duke who chased after Cinderella a few minutes ago run into the ballroom, run past the 3 women and both Aqua and Beaufort while holding a glass slipper in his right hand).

"Excuse us. Who are those ladies?" Aqua asked the Grand Duke, who turned around and approach her and Beaufort.

"Oh, er, if I recall correctly, that is Lady Tremaine and those 2 are her daughters, Miss Anastasia and Miss Drisella." replied the Grand Duke.

"Do you feel that, Aqua?" Beaufort asked Aqua as he turned to glance at them.

"Yeah, I felt it, Beau. There's something not right about them." replied Aqua as she turned to glance at them as well.

"You came back!" exclaimed the prince in a happy/relieved tone of voice to Aqua as he approach her, Beaufort and the Grand Duke, causing both Aqua and Beaufort to glance away from the 3 women who's leaving and glance at him with confused looks on their faces.

"Huh?" said both Aqua and Beaufort in confused unison to the prince.

"Oh, my apologies. I was mistaken. I thought that you're the girl which I dance with minutes ago." said the prince in an apologetic tone of voice to Aqua.

" _This prince seriously thinks and believe that Aqua is the girl which he dance with minutes ago? Didn't he take a good look at either of them to see that they look completely different?"_ thought Beaufort with a scowling look on his face at the prince.

"Your Highness, I found this on the castle's staircase." the Grand Duke told the prince before he show him the glass slipper he holds in his hand (while both Aqua and Beaufort also glance at the glass slipper in his hand).

"A glass slipper?" asked the prince in a confused tone of voice to the Grand Duke.

"One dropped by the lovely lady who fled from the ballroom, and I'll began searching far and wide of find the maiden to whom this glass slipper belongs." replied the Grand Duke.

"You will?" said the prince in a hopeful tone of voice on his face at the Grand Duke.

"But of course, Your Highness. After all, you have finally found someone whom you love and wish to marry. Upon hearing that splendid news, your father, the King, has decreed that a quest shall begin immediately throughout the kingdom. And I'll start with the closest residence, that of Lady Tremaine." said the Grand Duke to the prince (who nodded to him before he turned and walked away from him, Aqua and Beaufort) before he turned around and began walking out of the ballroom with the glass slipper in his hand while both Aqua and Beaufort watched him leave.

"Lady Tremaine, huh?... Let's go and pay her a visit, Aqua." Beaufort told Aqua.

"I agreed with you, Beau." said Aqua with a nod of her head to Beaufort before they turned and walked out of the ballroom after the Grand Duke.

XXXX

 **A few minutes later…**

After both Aqua and Beaufort walked out and away from the castle, walked past a thick forest and a large opened field area (and summoned forth their Rainfell and Vagos Maestus keyblades to fought/defeat the horde of Unverseds that appear in front of them), walked through the opened iron gate and stopped in their tracks in front of the wooden front doors of Lady Tremaine's large two-storey house. Once both Aqua and Beaufort arrived in front of the house, they heard the voices of two people talking inside the house.

"You honor our humble home, my lord." said the voice of Lady Tremaine.

"Quite so." replied the voice of the Grand Duke to Lady Tremaine after he clear his throat.

"May I present my daughters, Anastasia and Drizella." said the voice of Lady Tremaine to the Grand Duke for the second time.

"It's as we feared. There is darkness here." said Aqua before she let out a small sigh.

"Then let's get rid of it, Aqua." said Beaufort to Aqua (who nodded to him) before they summoned forth their keyblades. But as they were about to step into the house, the voice of an elderly woman suddenly called out to them from behind.

"Wait, you two! It's dangerous to fight the darkness with light." the voice of the elderly woman told both Aqua and Beaufort (who turned and look around for the source of the elderly woman's voice) before several twinkling lights gathered together to merged and formed into a fair-skinned, light grey-haired elderly woman wearing a pale blue-coloured, long sleeve cloak dress with a hood over her head and a dark red-coloured ribbon under her chin.

"Who are you?" Aqua asked the elderly woman.

"Cinderella's Fairy Godmother. I appear to those who believe that dreams come true." replied the Fairy Godmother after she introduced herself to both Aqua and Beaufort.

"Then we're honored to meet you, Fairy Godmother. But why would you advise us not to fight darkness with light?" Beaufort asked the Fairy Godmother in a confused tone of voice.

"Strong rays of bright sun create dark shadows. Sadly, Lady Tremaine and her 2 daughters are very jealous of Cinderella's kindness, charm and beauty, qualities that appear to you and the young man with you as "light". Jealousy is darkness. Light and Dark go hand in hand. You can't have one without the other." the Fairy Godmother answer/told both Aqua and Beaufort.

"Then what should we do?" said Aqua as both she and Beaufort glance down at the keyblades they hold in their hands.

"It's quite simple, dear. One of Cinderella's friends is trying very hard to keep her light from fading away. I want you two to join little Jag and help him." said the Fairy Godmother to both Aqua and Beaufort (who glance at each other for a few seconds then glance back at the Fairy Godmother and nodded to her).

"Alright, Fairy Godmother. We'll do it." said Beaufort.

"You two need a bit of my magic to help Jag. Are you two ready?" the Fairy Godmother asked both Aqua and Beaufort.

"Yes, we're ready now." replied Aqua while Beaufort nodded to her.

The Fairy Godmother smiled and nodded back to them before she pull her long/thin white-coloured wand out from her long sleeve, tapped her wand a few times on her right hand to see and make sure that her magic is still working (which it does) before she raised and waved her wand around and above her while chanting a spell.

"Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!" chanted the Fairy Godmother before a shimmering beam of white magic shot out of her wand, headed toward both Aqua and Beaufort and swirled around them before a bright light enveloped then shrink them into 2 small balls of floating light then the 2 balls of floating light flew upward toward the middle window at the top of the house, flew through the window and into the living room (while the Fairy Godmother watched them went into the house before she disappear into thin air).

Once both Aqua and Beaufort landed on the floor inside the living room of the house, they take a look at the room around them and were shocked when they saw that the room which they're now standing in is very huge with dozen of huge boxes, furnitures and clothes around them before they look down at themselves and the shocked looks on their faces deepen even more when they saw and realised that Fairy Godmother had shrunk them both to the size of mices. The next second, both Aqua and Beaufort saw Jag slowly walking past them while holding/carrying a large yellow-coloured key over his right shoulder toward a distant mouse hole in the wall across the room.

"Are you okay?" asked Aqua as both she and Beaufort walked toward Jag.

"Do you need any help?" asked Beaufort.

"Cinderella's stepmother locked her in her room. I've gotta let her out! I've gotta save Cinderella!" said Jag to both Aqua and Beaufort without looking.

"She did what? That cold-hearted woman…" said Beaufort with an angry look on his face.

"Here. We'll help you." said Aqua to Jag as she and Beaufort summoned forth their keyblades.

"Oh, thank you." said Jag in a thankful tone of voice to both Aqua and Beaufort as he turned to glance over his right shoulder at them and gasped in surprise when he saw and recognized the keyblades they hold in their hands. "Ooh! That's like Ven's and Jo's! Did you two ever meet Ven and Jo?" Jag asked both Aqua and Beaufort (who gasped in surprise when they heard Jag say Ventus and Josette's names).

"I'm Aqua and this is Beaufort." replied Aqua as she introduced herself and Beaufort to Jag. "But tell us how you know about Ven and Jo." Aqua asked Jag.

"We're friends! Good friends! Ven and Jo helped me fix Cinderella's dress." replied Jag.

"They did, huh? And where are they now, Jag?" asked Beaufort.

"They looking for a friend- another friend." replied Jag with a slightly sad look on his face.

"Oh, I see…" said Beaufort as he lowered his head to look down at the floor.

"Ven, Jo… the two of you must have just missed Terra and Kallima." said Aqua to herself as she lifted her head to glance up at the ceiling.

"I can't understand why… It always fit perfectly before." said the voice of Drizella from the other side of the closed door of the living room (which caused Aqua, Beaufort and Jag to glance at the closed door where the voice came from).

"Quite enough of this. The next young lady. Please…" said the voice of the Grand Duke.

"Oh no! Hear that!? We've gotta hurry! Cinderella's gotta try that slipper. Come on, come on, hurry!" said Jag in a worry/panic tone of voice to both Aqua and Beaufort (who nodded to him) before they quickly walked toward the mouse hole. But before they could reached it, a group of Floods and Scrappers Unverseds suddenly appear out of the floor in front of the 3 of them and prevented them from approaching the mouse hole.

"Unverseds!" snarled Beaufort when both he and Aqua saw them appearing out of the floor.

"Ah! No, no, no! We've gotta hurry!" said Jag as he shook his head and back away from the group of Unverseds in front of him.

"It's all right. Leave this to us." Aqua told Jag reassuringly as she and Beaufort run past and stand protectively in front of him.

"That's right, Jag! And don't lose that key!" said Beaufort to Jag (who nodded vigorously to him).

Both Aqua and Beaufort then spend the next few minutes fighting and defeating the group of Floods and Scrappers Unverseds in front of them with their keyblades while protecting Jag from the Unverseds and escorting him swiftly toward the mouse hole until they managed to get rid of the group of Unverseds, reached the mouse hole and Jag thanked both Aqua and Beaufort for their help before he went into the mouse hole.

XXXX

 **Another few minutes later, in the large entrance hall in the house…**

Both Aqua and Beaufort stand near the edge of the staircase light grey-coloured ledge at the top of the stairs and glance down at Lady Tremaine, her 2 daughters Anastasia and Drizella and the Grand Duke as they stood near the front door of the entrance hall.

"You're the only ladies here?" the Grand Duke asked Lady Tremaine.

"There's no one else, Your Grace." replied Lady Tremaine.

"They should be here by now. What's taking them so long?" said Beaufort worriedly to Aqua.

"I don't know what's keeping them, Beau! Come on… Hurry, Jag!" said Aqua worriedly to Beaufort before they gasped when they saw that the Grand Duke had turned around and began to walked toward the front doors. Both Aqua and Beaufort glance at each other and they decided to try to stall the Grand Duke from leaving until Cinderella came out. But before both Aqua and Beaufort could do so, they suddenly grew back to their normal sizes (which make them yell out in surprise), fell from the stairs and landed with hard, painful thuds on the floor (which caused Lady Tremaine, her 2 daughters and the Grand Duke to turned around and glance at them).

"Ow, that hurts. Are you alright, Aqua?" groaned Beaufort before he asked Aqua on whether she's alright.

"I'm alright, Beau." replied Aqua before she gasped when she (and Beaufort) look up and saw that Lady Tremaine, her 2 daughters and the Grand Duke are now staring at them both with disdain/surprise looks on their faces.

"Oh… would it… Would it be alright… if Aqua tried on the glass slipper, Your Grace?" Beaufort asked the Grand Duke.

"What, me?" Aqua whispered in a surprise tone of voice to Beaufort.

"Yeah, you, Aqua." Beaufort whispered back to her.

"Hm…. I met you two back at the palace. Unfortunately, she's not the young lady the prince is looking for, young man." said the Grand Duke to Beaufort (who stood up from the floor then hold out his right hand to helped Aqua up from the floor as well).

"But I am a girl. I should at least be given a chance to try it on." said Aqua as she gave a small smile to the Grand Duke.

"Who are you two, and what are you two doing in my house?" Lady Tremaine asked both Aqua and Beaufort coldly as she take a few steps forward.

"They're probably here to rob us!" said Drizella.

"Mother, do something!" said Anastasia.

"Excuse me, madam and ladies. We're not robbers, we're friends of Cinderella." said Beaufort coldly to Lady Tremaine and her 2 daughters, making them flinch a little from his cold tone of voice.

"This girl and boy does not live here. I have only 2 daughters. I believe we're finished here, Your Grace." said Lady Tremaine as she look over her left shoulder at the Grand Duke.

"No, madam. We're not quite finished yet." said Beaufort even more coldly to Lady Tremaine.

"Regardless… I don't think they mean any harm." said the Grand Duke to Lady Tremaine as he make his way past her and her 2 daughters toward both Aqua and Beaufort, stopped in front of Aqua and hold out the glass slipper to her. "Here you are, my dear." said the Grand Duke to Aqua (who exchange awkward looks with Beaufort before they briefly glance up at the top of the staircase).

"Jag, hurry…" muttered Aqua.

"We can't keep stalling for any longer, Jag!" muttered Beaufort.

"Your Grace… Please wait. May I try it on?" said Cinderella to the Grand Duke (which caused him, Lady Tremaine and her 2 daughters to glance up at her with surprise looks on their faces while both Aqua and Beaufort let out small sighs of relief) before she turned and began making her way down the stairs.

As Cinderella make her way down the stairs, Lady Tremaine walked forward and stopped between the bottom of the stairs and the Grand Duke. "Pay no attention to her. She's just an imaginative child." said Lady Tremaine.

"Madam, my orders were every maidens." said the Grand Duke as he scowled at her.

"He's right so you should step aside now, madam." said Beaufort as he nodded his head in agreement to the Grand Duke's words while smirking at her.

"You should let her try the slipper first." said Aqua as both she and Beaufort walked forward past the Grand Duke and Lady Tremaine toward Cinderella and Aqua hold out her right hand to Cinderella (who smiled and thanked her for it) while Beaufort get and set a chair down near Cinderella before Aqua escorted her to the chair and she sat down on it and Aqua stand near her right.

"Beau and I actually want to thank you, Cinderella. For teaching Terra he needs to keep believing." Aqua told Cinderella, which make her turned to glance at Aqua with a surprise look on her face.

After Cinderella sat down on the chair that Beaufort had prepared for her, the Grand Duke began approaching Cinderella with the glass slipper in his left hand. Lady Tremaine then stick out her foot but before she could tripped the Grand Duke, Beaufort immediately stepped between her and the Grand Duke and prevent her from tripping him when he noticed her sticking her foot out.

"Not on my watch, madam." said Beaufort as he glance and smirked at Lady Tremaine, which caused her to glared angrily at him for interfering before he look away from her to glance at Cinderella, saw the Grand Duke slips the slipper onto Cinderella's foot and it fit perfectly (which caused both Aqua and Beaufort to smiled at Cinderella before they lifted their heads to glance at the top of the stairs and they saw Jag laughing, jumping and raising his arms in the air in joy).

"A perfect fit! I must inform the prince immediately!" said the Grand Duke in a happy tone of voice to himself and to Cinderella. "You will come with me, of course."

"I'd be happy to." said Cinderella as she smiled at the Grand Duke before she followed after him toward the front doors.

"Yet another sweet moment, isn't it, Beau?" asked Aqua.

"More like all's well that ends well, Aqua. Come on, let's go." replied Beaufort before both he and Aqua walked toward the front doors as well (which is opened now).

"It's not fair! She's just a scullery maid!" grumbled Drizella.

"Mother! Are you just going to let them leave?" asked Anastasia.

"No… Cinderella will be put in her place. And those two who help her will pay dearly for their meddling." replied Lady Tremaine with a dark look on her face.

XXXX

 **Another few minutes later…**

After both Aqua and Beaufort stepped out of Lady Tremaine's house, they suddenly heard the loud and fearful scream of Cinderella coming from the wide opened field in the forest near Lady Tremaine's house.

"What was that?" said Aqua to Beaufort with a shocked look on her face.

"That scream… it sounds like Cinderella!" said Beaufort to Aqua with a worry look on his face.

A few seconds later, both Aqua and Beaufort heard the loud and fearful scream of the Grand Duke before they saw him running past the opened iron gate and back toward them in fear/panic.

"What just happened? Where's Cinderella?" Aqua asked the Grand Duke as both she and Beaufort run toward the Grand Duke and stopped in front of him.

"S-She was attacked by a monstrous creature… a monster in the field in the forest…" replied the Grand Duke as he gasped/panted for breath.

"She is!? And you just leave her out in the field with the monster by herself!?" Beaufort growled in anger/disbelief at the Grand Duke (which make him flinch in guilt/shame) before he quickly run past the Grand Duke toward the forest field where Cinderella and the monster is, with Aqua following closely behind him. Once both Aqua and Beaufort arrived in the forest field, they saw that Cinderella is lying face-down on the ground with worry/fear on their faces while Lady Tremaine and her 2 daughters stand and laughed smugly/loudly in front of her with a large brown-coloured pumpkin Unversed (called Cursed Coach) stand next to them. The Cursed Coach then began throwing a dozen small pumpkin bombs down toward Cinderella and Aqua quickly rushed toward Cinderella and covered her with her own body while Beaufort run in front of both Cinderella and Aqua, summoned forth his keyblade and he swung and knocked the pumpkin bombs away from them.

"Are you two alright, Aqua, Cinderella?" asked Beaufort.

"Yeah, we're fine, Beau. Thanks to you knocking those pumpkin bombs away." replied Aqua in a thankful tone of voice to Beaufort.

Lady Tremaine let out another loud/smug laugh at Aqua, Beaufort and Cinderella. "This is what happens to those who go against my wishes!" said Lady Tremaine in a smug tone of voice to the 3 of them, not noticing that one of pumpkin bomb flew down, landed on the ground and exploded in front of her and her 2 daughters, blowing them into smithereens (while also making them scream in unison from the explosion).

"The darkness in their hearts comsumed them." said Aqua sadly to Cinderella as the 3 of them watched Lady Tremaine and her 2 daughters got blown up and away by 1 of the pumpkin bombs before she stood up then helped Cinderella stand up from the ground. "Go now. Get far away from here, Cinderella." Aqua told Cinderella.

"What about you two?" asked Cinderella worriedly to both Aqua and Beaufort.

"We'll be fine, Cinderella. Leave this monster to us. So hurry and go already!" replied Beaufort firmly to Cinderella, who slowly nodded to him and Aqua before she turned and run out of the forest field, leaving both Aqua and Beaufort behind with the Cursed Coach.

The Cursed Coach begin it's first attack on both Aqua and Beaufort by spinning itself swiftly toward them both in an attempt to hit them with it's spinning body and vines. Both Aqua and Beaufort quickly dodged left and right away from the Cursed Coach before it could hit them. The Cursed Coach kept using it's swift spinning attack on both Aqua and Beaufort (while it also spins around the opened field) for the next few minutes until The Cursed Coach decided to ceased it's spinning attack on both Aqua and Beaufort when it realized that both Aqua and Beaufort avoided it's spinning attack and decided to opened it's large mouth to fired a series of smaller pumpkin bombs down on them both.

When both Aqua and Beaufort saw the Cursed Coach fired a series of smaller pumpkin bombs down on them from it's mouth, Aqua hold out her keyblade in front of her to begin casting a series of Fira magic to destroy the pumpkin bombs before they could reached and blow her and Beaufort up while Beaufort charge toward the Cursed Coach (while dodging and knock away the pumpkin bombs that flew down toward him) and he raised his keyblade casted a fierce Thundara magic attack straight into the gaping mouth of the Cursed Coach (which caused it to let out a loud roar of pain before it closed it's mouth up). Both Aqua and Beaufort then charge toward the Cursed Coach together and Aqua hold out her keyblade to casted a series of Blizzara magic attack down on the Cursed Coach while Beaufort raised his keyblade to landed a series of fierce thrusts and slashs attacks at the Cursed Coach body and vines. The Cursed Coach was furious at both Aqua and Beaufort for attacking and injuring it before it opened it's large mouth to attempt to sucked them both into it. Both Aqua and Beaufort immediately plunge their keyblades onto the ground and braced themselves from being sucked into the Cursed Coach mouth.

After a few seconds, the Cursed Coach closed it's mouth up to ceased using it's sucking skill on both Aqua and Beaufort and they took the chance to pull their keyblades out of the ground, charge toward the Cursed Coach to casts and dealt some more magic, thrusts and slashes attacks on the Cursed Coach until they managed to defeat it and it dissipated away into nothing. After both Aqua and Beaufort defeated the Cursed Coach and dismissed their keyblades, they turned around to walked back to the house where both Cinderella and the Grand Duke were waiting, told them both that it's safe now then escorted them to the palace.

XXXX

 **Another few minutes later, in the courtyard of the palace…**

Aqua sat on the edge of the large square-shaped fountain in the middle of the courtyard while Beaufort stands next to her as they watched with smiles on their faces at the sweet and happy moment of Cinderella seeing and hugging the prince on the front steps of the palace. Both Aqua and Beaufort then felt the presence of Fairy Godmother and they turned to glance at her as she suddenly appeared and stand near them both.

"A pure heart filled with light…" said Aqua to the Fairy Godmother as she glance back at Cinderella and the prince. "It's strange, the Master told and taught us that darkness needs to be destroyed. But how, if not with light?" Aqua asked the Fairy Godmother.

"Oh, my dear, you and the boy with you are still too young to know. Experience more things, you two, and you two will find the answers. Just trusts in your dreams." replied the Fairy Godmother in a gentle tone of voice to Aqua.

"Trusts in our dreams, huh? We'll do just that, Fairy Godmother." said Beaufort as he and Aqua smiled and nodded to the Fairy Godmother (who smiled and nodded back to them both) before they look back at Cinderella and the prince.

XXXX

 **Meanwhile, in another world…**

Inside a large blue-coloured room with dozens of waterfalls flowing out of different parts of the wall and down onto the ground below, Master Xehanort is standing on the large dark-yellow coloured platform and talking to a mysterious man and woman until he's done talking to them both. Both the man and woman smiled evilly to Master Xehanort then to each other before they turned around and walked away from Master Xehanort. After the man and the woman walked away from him, an oval-shaped dark portal formed and appear next to Master Xehanort and Aglaia walked out of the portal to say something to him before he nodded and say something to her and she nodded, turned around and walked back into the dark portal before it vanished into thin air.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13: Mysterious Tower, part 1**

Both Terra and Kallima arrived and landed on the ground of another world (after they depart from the previous world), dismissed their armors and keyblades before Kallima began leading Terra forward to the tall and huge yellow-coloured tower with several smaller tower rooms with green-coloured roofs attached around the tower standing in front of them. As both Terra and Kallima approach the tower, they suddenly saw Mickey running out of the large and tall wooden front doors (which had the yellow-cloured star and crescent moon symbol marked on it) of the tower and down the front steps until he stopped in his tracks with his back to the tower and them (they also saw that he holds a white, bluish-purple and yellow-coloured keyblade with dozens of stars on it in his right hand (named Star Seeker). Before either Terra or Kallima could say or do anything, Mickey pull out a light-blue coloured Star shard thing from inside his left pocket and raised it up into the air above him.

"Alakazam!" Mickey said to the Star shard in his left hand before both the Star Shard and Mickey himself started to glowed brightly then Mickey flew up in a swift zig-zagging path toward the starlit night sky and he vanished into the sky.

" _Oh, Mickey. What have you just done?"_ thought Kallima as she slowly shake her head in dismay at Mickey.

"Who was that, Kallima? And why does he have a keyblade like us?" asked Terra as he glance at Kallima.

"That was Mickey, Terra. Who's also a keyblade apprentice to my grandfather, like me." replied Kallima without looking at Terra.

"I see." said Terra before he and Kallima walked up the steps toward the wooden front doors, opened the doors and went into the tower before they walked up the spiral staircase in the tower until they reached the top, stopped in their tracks in front of another wooden door before Kallima opened the door and they went into Yen Sid's room (and they saw Yen Sid standing with his back to them as he look out through the huge star-shaped window at the view outside).

"Master Yen Sid." said Terra to Yen Sid as he straighten himself in a polite manner.

"I'm back, grandfather. And I've brought 1 of Master Eraqus apprentices who wished to see and ask you for information about quite a few things." Kallima told Yen Sid (who turned around to glance and nodded to both Terra and Kallima).

"Welcome back, Kallima. And greetings to you, Terra, Eraqus's pupil." said Yen Sid to both Terra and Kallima as he walked toward from the window toward his desk and sat down on his chair. "It is the Unversed." added Yen Sid after he sat down.

"Yes, Master Yen Sid." said Terra with a nod of his head as he and Kallima approach the desk. "I thought it best to seek the counsel of one wiser than myself." Terra told Yen Sid.

"I am no longer a master, Terra. I doffed that mantle long ago." said Yen Sid.

"Grandfather, before we went into this tower, we saw Mickey running out of the tower with a keyblade in his hand." said Kallima while Terra nodded in agreement.

"I know, Kallima." said Yen Sid with a nod of his head to Kallima before he resumed talking to Terra. "Mickey, too, sought guidance here. As a king, he is good and kind. But the weight of a crown has not cured him of impetuousness. He has taken and left with an object whose power he does not understand nor know how to control. Mickey probably imagines that my Star Shard will be of help in his current quest. And like you and my granddaughter, he is eager to use his keyblade to set things right."

"I'm not sure I even understand what's wrong, Master Yen Sid." said Terra to Yen Sid. "Master Xehanort is missing… And now Kallima and I've learned that there's a helmet boy and a masked girl who is controlling those "Unversed" on the loose."

"To arrive at the truth, perhaps you should approach things differently-" said Yen Sid as he closed his eyes and lowered his head for a few seconds before he lifted his head and opened his eyes. "first consider them one and the same problem."

"Are you saying that Master Xehanort and the Unversed which is controlled by those two and connected somehow?" asked Terra.

"That couldn't be, grandfather. Isn't it?" said Kallima worriedly.

"I must not make assumptions yet." replied Yen Sid. "Find Xehanort, Terra, Kallima. That is where you two should begin." Yen Sid told both Terra and Kallima.

"Yes sir." replied Terra as he nodded to Yen Sid before he turned around, walked toward the door and walked out of the room.

"We'll be going now, grandfather." said Kallima to Yen Sid before she turned around and walked toward the opened door but before she could leave, Yen Sid's next words stop her in her tracks.

"Kallima, if you do stop by Radiant Garden later on, you should go see your younger brother, Lunae. And sent my regards to him." said Yen Sid.

"Of course, grandfather." replied Kallima before she walked out of the room, walked down the stairs after Terra until they stepped out of the tower, change into their keyblade armors and summoned forth their keyblade gliders before they got onto them and leave.

XXXX

 **In the Lands Between…**

After both Terra and Kallima leave the world that Master Yen Sid lived/reside on and were currently flying/driving on their keyblade glider and chariot in the Lands Between, Terra then started to hear Master Xehanort's voice speaking to him in his mind.

" _Terra. Come see me at once."_ Master Xehanort called out to him in his mind.

"Master Xehanort!" exclaimed Terra in surprise when he heard Master Xehanort's voice in his mind.

"Huh? What is it, Terra?" asked Kallima in a confused tone of voice to Terra after she heard him spoke Master Xehanort's name out loud.

"It's Master Xehanort, Kallima. He's speaking to me in my mind, telling me to see him at once." replied Terra.

"Really? Then let us go see him, Terra." said Kallima to Terra before they flew/rode their keyblade gliders swiftly toward another world.

XXXX

 **The Badlands…**

A few minutes later, both Terra and Kallima arrived in a large and barren-looking world filled with sands with large rocks on them and large rocky cliff around the area, they flew their keyblade gliders forward while searching for Master Xehanort until Kallima saw him standing on the top of a shorter rocky cliff and staring up at them both.

"Terra, I've seen him. He's standing down there on that cliff." Kallima told Terra (who turned and saw him as well).

"Master Xehanort…" said Terra to himself before both he and Kallima flew their keyblade gliders down toward the cliff where Master Xehanort is, landed on it before they got off and dismissed their armors and gliders.

"Hello, Master Xehanort." said Kallima to Master Xehanort.

"Greetings to you too, Kallima. Granddaughter of Yen Sid." said Master Xehanort back to Kallima.

"Master Xehanort. The 2 of us have been to other worlds and we've seen the things that you've done. We just don't understand why." asked Terra.

Master Xehanort closed his eyes and lowered his head in sadness. "Someone had to safeguard the light… from the demon that I unleashed." said Master Xehanort sadly to both Terra and Kallima before he turned to glance to the left, raised and clench his left hand into a fist. "I'm sure that you 2 must know about the boy by now, the one wearing the helmet. His name is Vanitas. A creature of pure darkness. One of my making."

"Vanitas… Are you telling us that he came from you?" asked Terra.

"No, not me. He came from Ventus." replied Master Xehanort.

"What!?" said Kallima with a shocked look on her face.

"He came from Ventus!?" said Terra, shocked as well.

"Yes. Vanitas is the darkness that was inside your friend. It was an accident. While training with me, Ventus succumbed to darkness, and there was but one way to save him- by stripping that part of him away. And thus Vanitas was created." said Master Xehanort to both Terra and Kallima before he turned around and look away from them, an ashamed look on his face. "In the process, I damaged Ventus's heart in the most horrific way. So I did what I felt was right, and left him with Eraqus. I knew the boy could not stay with me, the man who did him such grievous harm."

"Master Xehanort… Ventus has gotten a lot stronger since then." said Terra as he walked toward Master Xehanort and stopped behind him (while Kallima had a nagging feeling that there's something off about what Master Xehanort's say he's done to Ventus to her and Terra). "You shouldn't blame yourself for trying to saved him."

"Well… thank you, lad. You know how to put an old man's heart at ease." said Master Xehanort in a grateful tone of voice to Terra.

" _So that's what it was."_ said Terra mentally to himself as he remember the time when Ventus first came to Land of Departure 4 years ago.

XXXX

 _Inside the large throne-like room inside the large castle of the Land of Departure, Terra, Aqua, Beaufort and Josette were training hard with their keyblades until all 4 of them heard the sound of the front door opening, ceased their keyblade training, turned and walked toward and stopped near the edge of the top of the floor of the large throne-like room to look down and they saw Master Xehanort came into the castle with Ventus walking and following beside him before he stopped in his tracks while Master Xehanort briefly speak to Master Eraqus before Master Eraqus turned around and walked up the stairs with Master Xehanort following behind him, leaving Ventus standing there by himself._

" _That boy. Do you think he's okay, Terra?" Aqua asked Terra._

" _I'll go down and take a look, Aqua." replied Terra before he turned around and run through the door, out of the room and walked down the stairs until he stopped in front of Ventus._

" _Hey there, my name is Terra. What's yours?" asked Terra after he introduced himself to Ventus._

" _Ventus." said Ventus as he introduced himself to Terra._

" _Whew, you can talk." said Terra before he sighed in relief then turned around and raised his head to glance up at Aqua, Beaufort and Josette. "Aqua, Beau, Jo, come on down!" Terra called up to them, which make them smiled before they turned around, walked out of the room and down the stairs until all 3 of them stopped near both Terra and Ventus._

" _Hi, I'm Aqua." said Aqua, introducing herself to Ventus._

" _I'm Josette." said Josette._

" _And I'm Beaufort." said Beaufort._

" _Terra… Aqua… Beaufort… Josette…" said Ventus in a blank tone of voice to them._

" _So, are you here to train with us? Where are you from? Who was that man with you? You good with a keyblade like us?" Terra asked Ventus 1 question after another._

" _Hey, Terra. Slow down on questioning him." said Beaufort as he scowled at Terra._

" _Come on, Beau. I just want to…" Terra began saying to Beaufort but he got cut off by Ventus, who began yelling out in agony as he raised his hands to hold his head while he fell to his knees on the floor (which shocked Terra, Aqua, Beaufort and Josette)._

" _What's wrong!?" asked Beaufort worriedly to Ventus._

" _Are you alright!?" asked Josette worriedly to Ventus as well._

" _What did all of you do to him!?" said Master Eraqus's voice very sternly from behind Terra, Aqua, Beaufort and Josette and they turned around to glance at him and Master Xehanort (who walked forward past Master Eraqus and the 4 of them toward Ventus, kneel down and hold his unconscious form up from the floor)._

" _We didn't do anything to him, Master Eraqus!" said Beaufort._

" _That's right, Master. All we did is introduced ourselves to him and I asked him some questions." Terra told Master Eraqus._

" _Ventus cannot tell anything to you all, because he cannot remember anything." said Master Eraqus to Terra, Aqua, Beaufort and Josette, who gasped in shock and worry when they heard about it._

 _XXXX_

"Master, why is Vanitas still free?" asked Terra.

"Ah yes. Well, I did my best to contain him the moment he emerged, but…" replied Master Xehanort as he turned back to glance at them.

"He somehow managed to escape, isn't it?" said Kallima.

"Yes, you're right, Kallima." said Master Xehanort as he nodded to her before he walked forward and walked past her and Terra. "Vanitas escape and he uses his power of darkness to corrupt my niece, Aglaia. They used their keyblades to sow seeds of darkness around, and now, the worlds teem with their ghastly underlings."

"The Unverseds!" exclaim Terra.

"The masked girl who's with Vanitas is your niece, Aglaia?" said Kallima worriedly to Master Xehanort.

"Yes, unfortunately. Vanitas has no control over the darkness in his heart. The keyblade is not his to wield and bear." said Master Xehanort before he stopped walking and turned around to glance at them. "He's an abomination beyond hope of salvation, and with Aglaia with him as his ally of darkness, her power as a keyblade wielder strengthen his greatly. Lend me your strengths, Terra, Kallima. Right this wrong that I've wrought and bring my niece safety back to me!"

"Of course we will, Master. But where should we start looking for them?" asked Kallima.

"Kallima's got a point, Master. We don't have any idea on where to find them both." said Terra.

"What I can tell you both about Vanitas and Aglaia amounts to this-their darkness is drawn to the light, which they seeks to disrupt… and destroy." Master Xehanort told both Terra and Kallima (who suddenly had several short visions of Aqua, Beaufort, Ventus and Josette being attacked by both Vanitas and Aglaia before they fell down onto the ground). "It stand to reason that they will strike next in the world and city of light of Radiant Garden." added Master Xehanort.

"What? Their next world target is Radiant Garden?" said Kallima with a shock then worry look on her face. " _Lunae, Kairi, everyone!"_ added Kallima worriedly in her mind.

"Don't worry, Master. We'll take care of Vanitas, saved Aglaia from him and bring her back to you." said Terra in a reassuring tone of voice to Master Xehanort before both he and Kallima turned around, summoned forth their armors and gliders before they got onto their gliders and took off away from Master Xehanort (who had an evil smirk on his face now as he watched them leave).


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14: The Badlands**

After both Ventus and Josette left the previous world and is now travelling together through the Lands Between in their keyblade armors and on their keyblade gliders, they suddenly felt then saw Vanitas suddenly flew swiftly past them while his entire body is covered in a reddish-black coloured sphere of energy.

"Him again!" growled Ventus when he saw Vanitas (who briefly turned around to glance at both Ventus and Josette before he turned back and flew further away from them).

"Huh? Who was that, Ven? Do you know him?" asked Josette with a confused look on her face.

"He's the guy who talk bad and untrue things about Terra to me back in my room before I bumped into you and then we leave our home." replied Ventus. "Come on, Jo. Let's go after him."

"Alright then, Ven." said Josette as she nodded her head to Ventus before both she and Ventus flew their gliders swiftly forward in pursue of Vanitas.

XXXX

 **The Badlands…**

Both Ventus and Josette chase after Vanitas until they arrived into another large and barren-looking world filled with sands with large rocks and tall rocky cliffs around the area, flew and landed their keyblade gliders down on the ground before they dismissed their armors and gliders and look around the place for Vanitas.

"Where's he hiding?" said Ventus to himself as he and Josette kept on looking around the place for Vanitas.

Josette then felt a presence appearing behind her and Ventus, quickly turned around and saw Vanitas standing behind her and Ventus. "He's behind us, Ven!" Josette told Ventus (who heard what she told him, turned around and saw him too).

"All right! What did you mean about Terra being a different person?" demanded Ventus as he scowled at Vanitas.

"Exactly what I said, idiot." said Vanitas as he walked toward both Ventus and Josette. "The Terra that you and Josette know will be gone forever."

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" snapped Ventus angrily at Vanitas.

"Ven's right, whoever you are! What do you know about Terra?" said Josette as she glared at Vanitas for saying untrue words about Terra and for knowing her name.

"I know enough about him, Josette. It's stupid or true, whether you 2 want to believe it or not is up to you two." said Vanitas as he raised his right hand to summoned forth his keyblade (which is a black, red and grey-coloured keyblade named Void Gear).

"A keyblade?" said Ventus as he and Josette glance at the Void Gear keyblade in Vanitas hand with surprise look on their faces before they scowled at Vanitas and summoned forth their Wayward Wind and Helianthus keyblades.

"Good. Let's see what you two are made of." said Vanitas to both Ventus and Josette as all 3 of them got into their battle stances before they raised their keyblades and charge toward each other.

Both Ventus and Josette swung and clash their keyblades several times at Vanitas (while he jumped away to avoid their strikes and clash his keyblade against theirs) before he swung his keyblade swiftly at both Ventus and Josette, causing them to raised their keyblades in front of them to block against Vanitas's keyblade strike. But when his keyblade clash against theirs, the impact of the strike is strong enough to sent them both flying backward away from him before Ventus landed face-down while Josette landed on her back on the ground (which make them yell then groan in pain from the strike and from the rough landing). As both Ventus and Josette try to get themselves up from the ground to fight Vanitas to no avail, Vanitas walked toward both Ventus and Josette with his keyblade in his hand and he stopped in front of them and glance down at them.

"That really all you two got? Man, you two are worthless." said Vanitas in a disappointed tone of voice to both Ventus and Josette. "I'd be going against the Master's and Aglaia's orders, but so what? As far as I'm concerned, both you and Josette's job here is done." added Vanitas before he take hold of his keyblade with both of his hands, raised it into the air above him to gather a large swirling ball of light purplish-blue coloured flames at the tip of his keyblade before he lowered and aim his keyblade at both Ventus and Josette and launch the flaming ball toward them.

The flaming ball struck and exploded at the ground where both Ventus and Josette were lying on with a loud sound for the next few seconds (while Vanitas watched on in silence as the flames reflected in his helmet) until the flames dissipated away to reveal no sight or remnants of both Ventus and Josette, leaving a large crater hole and a huge circular black scorch mark on the ground. Just as Vanitas was sure that he's done in getting rid of both Ventus and Josette and were about to leave, he suddenly heard the voice of someone else talking from his right, turned to look and saw Mickey standing in front of both Ventus and Josette.

"Don't worry! You two are safe now." said Mickey in a reassuring tone of voice to both Ventus and Josette before he summoned forth his Star Seeker keyblade, raised his keyblade high above him to cast and healed them with a Cura magic. A green-coloured aura soon appear and enveloped both Ventus and Josette's entire body, healing them of their injuries. After Mickey's done in healing them, both Ventus and Josette groaned a little before they raised their heads and open their eyes to glance at Mickey (and were a little surprise to see him) as he turned around and glared at Vanitas.

"Tell me where you got that!" said Mickey angrily at Vanitas as he raised and pointed his keyblade at him. "Keyblades are not something you use just to bully or hurt other people! Here, I'll show you!"

"Not alone you're not!" said Josette as she stood up from the ground, approach and stand next to Mickey's left.

"The 3 of us will, together!" said Ventus as he stood up from the ground, approach and stand next to Mickey's right (while they glance at each other and nodded in unison before they and Vanitas got into their battle stances). But before all 4 of them could begin their battle, a portal of darkness suddenly formed and appear from behind Vanitas before Aglaia (who's wearing a black and white-coloured mask on her face) came out of the portal.

"Three against one? Isn't that very unfair of you three?" said Aglaia in a disapproving tone of voice to Ventus, Josette and Mickey (who were surprise to see her).

"Who are you?" asked Mickey.

"Like I would tell you, you little rat." said Aglaia in a sinister tone of voice to Mickey before she raised her hand to summoned forth her keyblade (which is a grey and black-coloured keyblade named Dark Seeker and which make Ventus, Josette and Mickey surprise even more). "All you 3 will know about me is that I'm here to help Vanitas out." added Aglaia before she got into a battle stance next to Vanitas.

"Why are you here? I never ask for your help." snapped Vanitas without looking at Aglaia.

"Why don't you be silence, Vanitas so we can focus on fighting them." Aglaia snapped back at him (which make him let out a small growl at her).

Both Ventus and Mickey then raised their keyblades and charge toward Vanitas to strike him down but Vanitas jump up into the air away from their downward strikes and raised his keyblade to cast several strong Thundara magic down on them both, causing them to quickly raised their keyblades to cast Protect magic on themselves to avoid being electrocute by Vanitas Thundara magic attack.

While both Ventus and Mickey were fighting Vanitas, both Josette and Aglaia charge toward each other and they swung and clash their keyblades several times at each other before Josette dodged away from Aglaia's sideway strike on her, raised and pointed her keyblade at Aglaia to cast and launch several Fira magic at her. Aglaia dodged away from some of the Fira magic that Josette casted at her before she swings her keyblade to hit the rest of the Fira magic back at Josette, which struck Josette's chest, right arm and leg and caused her to cry out in pain before she raised her keyblade to cast Cura on herself to heal her burned wounds.

"Jo!" yelled Ventus worriedly at Josette when he (and Mickey) saw and heard her cry out in pain. But just as both Ventus and Mickey was about to turn and help Josette out, Vanitas immediately cast and launch a large orb of dark energy toward both Ventus and Mickey which struck the ground in front of them, explode into a large blast of dark energy and caused them to be thrown back from the force of the blast and landed on their backs hard on the ground and preventing them from helping Josette.

"Ven!" yelled Josette worriedly at Ventus (and Mickey) when she saw Vanitas cast and launch a large orb of dark energy toward both Ventus and Mickey (before the energy explode in front of them).

"Worry more about yourself instead of your friend and the other keyblade wielder, Josie." said Aglaia in a mocking tone of voice to Josette as she raised and swung her keyblade down on Josette (who quickly dodged to her right away from Aglaia's downward strike on her).

"Why don't you be silence!" Josette snapped at Aglaia before they charge and swung and clash their keyblades at each other until Josette pushed Aglaia away from her, cast and launch a series of Blizzara magic at her, which struck and pierce her arms and legs and make her gasp loudly in pain before she fell to the ground.

After Josette managed to defeat Aglaia, both Ventus and Mickey teamed up to begin casting and launching several strong beams of light toward Vanitas, which struck him head on in every direction before sending him flying back and landed hard on his back on the ground away from them both. After both Ventus and Mickey defeat Vanitas, they saw that the wall of dark energy to their right slowly dissipate away and both Ventus and Mickey quickly turned and make their way toward Josette.

"Jo! Are you alright?" asked Ventus worriedly to Josette.

"Yeah, I'm fine now, Ven. What about you and the other keyblade wielder?" said Josette.

"We're fine too." replied Ventus in a relief tone of voice to Josette while Mickey nodded to her before they turned to glance at both Vanitas and Aglaia, who's still lying on the ground.

A few seconds later, Vanitas suddenly spins around on his hands and got to his feet while Aglaia stood up, pull the icicles out of her arms and legs before she casted Cura on herself to healed her wounds, causing Ventus, Josette and Mickey to get into their battle stances in preparation for another fight.

"Humph, you 3 ain't bad at all, I'll admit." said Aglaia as she and Vanitas glance at Ventus, Josette and Mickey before a portal of darkness formed and appear behind them both.

"Consider yourself on probation for now, Ventus." said Vanitas at Ventus before he and Aglaia walk backward and disappear into the portal of darkness before it vanished into thin air.

"Probation for what?" said Ventus with a confused look on his face as he dismiss his keyblade.

"I don't know what he mean by that, Ven. But whatever it is, it can't be good." said Josette as she dismiss her keyblade as well before both she and Ventus turned to glance at Mickey (who also turned to glance at them).

"Thanks for before, we owe ya. I'm Ventus and this is Josette. What's your name?" said Ventus in a grateful tone of voice to Mickey before he introduced himself and Josette to him.

"I'm Mickey." said Mickey, introducing himself to both Ventus and Josette.

"Nice to meet you, Mickey." said Josette as she gave a small smile to Mickey.

"I see you've got a keyblade, like us." said Ventus as he glance at the keyblade in Mickey's hand.

"Yep. I've been trainin' under the great Yen Sid alongside Kallima, his granddaughter." replied Mickey before he dismiss his keyblade. "He found out the worlds are in trouble and he told Kallima to leave to sort out the worlds trouble, an' I sorta took off without tellin' him later on." added Mickey as he raised his left hand to scratch the back of his head in a sheepish manner.

"Well, that makes 3 of us. I ran off too." said Ventus with a nod of his head at Mickey.

"You mean _you_ ran off and told me to come with you, Ven." Josette corrected Ventus with a scowl on her face.

"Uh, yeah, right." said Ventus as he scratch his head while Mickey pull out the Star Shard from his right pocket and show it to them.

"All I hafta do is think, and this Star Shard will take me anywhere I wanna go. At least, I thought it would." Mickey told and explain to Ventus and Josette. "I haven't quite got the fine points down, like… when or where… it just kinda kicks in whenever it wants to. But I wouldn't have met you 2 if it hadn't brought me here."

"Yeah, you're right, Mickey. And we would've die if you hadn't came here." said Josette while Ventus chuckle at Mickey.

"Ya know, ya two, it might not be an accident. Maybe it starts workin' cause it's reactin' to somethin'." said Mickey to both Ventus and Josette before they all glance down at Star Shard.

Soon after they do so, the Star Shard suddenly started to shine very brightly, causing Ventus, Josette and Mickey to closed their eyes from the bright light shining out of the Star Shard in Mickey's hand.

XXXX

 **The Lands Between…**

When both Ventus and Josette opened their eyes and look at themselves and at the place around them, they saw that they're clad in their keyblade armors and standing on their gliders in the Lands Between. They then saw that they're floating near another world and they quickly turned and flew their gliders toward the next world.


	15. Chapter 15

**Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep**

 **Chapter 15: Radiant Garden, part 1**

Both Terra and Kallima arrived and landed inside a dark bluish-grey coloured hallway which had rectangular-shaped fountains with small rectangular-shaped balconies with dozens of multi-coloured flowers planted in them on both sides of them in the world of Radiant Garden before both Terra and Kallima walked forward through the door in front of them, turned to their left to walked up the stairs and stopped in their tracks inside the large central square area while they take a thorough look at the large central square area around them for any signs of either Vanitas or Aglaia. As both Terra and Kallima look on around the area, suddenly dozens of Floods, Scrappers, Arch Ravens, Chrono Twisters and Tank Topplers Unverseds rose out of the ground in front of them.

"Unverseds, Terra!" exclaimed Kallima as she summoned forth her keyblade.

"Yeah, I know. This can only mean that Master Xehanort was right." said Terra to Kallima as he summoned forth his keyblade as well.

Both Terra and Kallima charge toward the horde of Unverseds and they spend the next few minutes swinging, slashing and casting strong magic attacks at the horde of Unverseds (while they had to quickly dodged a safe distance away from the Tank Toppler Unverseds as their large, dark purple-coloured round-shaped bodies turned bright red in colour before they rolled around the area then explode into tiny pieces) until they've got rid of them. After both Terra and Kallima got rid of the horde of Unverseds and dismiss their keyblades, they turned around and saw Master Xehanort walking down a street between several houses.

"Isn't that Master Xehanort, Terra?" asked Kallima with a confused look on her face.

"Yeah. What's Master Xehanort doing here?" replied Terra. "Maybe he found something out."

"Let's follow him then." said Kallima as she and Terra glance and nodded to each other before they walked forward down the street between the houses after Master Xehanort and they soon found themselves inside Castle Town (which is home to many Disney and Final Fantasy characters).

After both Terra and Kallima walked into Castle Town, they saw a large white puffy cloud suddenly appear in thin air a few feet in front of them before the cloud disappear to reveal an elderly, slightly tan-skinned man with brown-coloured eyes, a mustache, a long beard and a spectacle on his face and wearing a long-sleeve blue robe with a tall blue hat on his head and short brown shoes on his feet.

"Dear me, why can't I ever seem to remember this address exactly?" said the elderly man to himself as he walked forward (and didn't noticed both Terra and Kallima watching him from his left) toward a house standing between a wall and another house and he went into his house and leaving a single book lying on the ground.

" _Oh, Merlin. Once again you forget that you left another book behind after you came back from whichever other worlds you visited out there."_ thought Kallima dryly in her mind as she approach and kneel down to picked up the book that the elderly man named Merlin had just left behind before she turned around and handed the book over to Terra then they went into the elderly man's house to return the book to him.

Once both Terra and Kallima went into Merlin's house (which had a single-sized bed leaning against the far left corner of the wall next to a fireplace, a blackboard standing near the right corner of the wall next to the fireplace, a table and chair, a bookshelve filled with books in it and dozens more books stacking on top of another on the floor in various corners of the room), Kallima slightly widen her eyes in surprise when she saw her younger brother, Lunae (who's a fair-skinned, short blonde-haired, clear blue-eyed boy wearing a short-sleeve white T-shirt with a green-coloured vest over it, short dark grey-coloured pants and matching grey shoes on his feet) sitting on Merlin's bed and reading a book about crafting and casting magic attacks before a huge smile appear on her face (while Terra make his way toward Merlin (who's busy in writing something on the blackboard) to return the book to him).

"Hello, Lunae. What'd you got there?" said Kallima to Lunae (who ceased his reading when he heard Kallima talk to him, raised his head to glance up at her before a huge smile appear on his face as well).

"Big Sis!" said Lunae quite loudly and joyfully (which caused both Terra and Merlin to glance over at them in surprise) at seeing Kallima before he closed and put the book down on the bed to his left, got off the bed and he run toward Kallima to wrapped his arms around her waist in a hug. "I missed you!"

"Yeah, I know you do, Lunae. I missed you too. And also, our grandfather sent his regards to you too." said Kallima softly to Lunae as she placed her hands on his back and hug him back.

"Thanks, big sis. And how long will you stay here this time?" asked Lunae as he glance up at her.

"Not for long, Lunae." replied Kallima sadly to Lunae.

"Oh." said Lunae as he lowered his head in sadness and pull away from her (which make Kallima raised and placed her hand on his right shoulder to console him a little).

"Well, it's nice to see you again, Lady Kallima." said Merlin as he and Terra approach Kallima and Lunae.

"Yeah, I know, Merlin. Nice to see you too." said Kallima as she turned to glance and smiled at Merlin. "Looks like my little brother has once again came into your home, Merlin. He just can't seem to get enough of your books."

"Oh no, your brother's no trouble at all to me, Lady Kallima. Don't you worry about it. He's quite the bright lad and if he wants to read my books to gain knowledge so much then let him do so." said Merlin.

"I see. Very well then, Merlin." said Kallima with a small nod of her head to Merlin.

"Who's this boy, Kallima?" asked Terra as he glance at both Kallima and Lunae.

"This is my younger brother Lunae, Terra. Lunae, this is Terra, keyblade apprentice of Master Eraqus, like me." replied Kallima as she introduced Terra and Lunae to each other. "Go on, Lunae. Say hi to Terra." said Kallima to Lunae.

"H-Hello, Terra." said Lunae.

"Hello, Lunae. It's nice to meet you." said Terra as he smiled at Lunae.

"Oh, and there's one more thing that I need to tell you about, Lady Kallima." said Merlin in a fearful tone of voice to Kallima.

"What is it, Merlin?" said Kallima in a confused tone of voice to Merlin.

"The Accursed man, Ardyn Izunia is somewhere here in this world. Be careful." replied Merlin grimly to Kallima (who gasped at what he just told her before she nodded to him).

Both Terra and Kallima then bade farewell to both Merlin and Lunae before they leave Merlin's house. As soon as they stepped out of Merlin's house, they saw two large crimson, black and dark grey-coloured and dark green, black and grey-coloured armor Unverseds (both of which had a set of three segmented legs with dark blue joints, with two small Unversed emblems on theis center legs and with each legs ends in triangular, black feets) flying swiftly by in front of them through Castle Town and heading in the direction of the large Fountain Court area. Both Terra and Kallima wasted no time in chasing after the large Unversed past the large Fountain Court area, run up a staircase and through a destroy door until they arrived and stopped in their tracks in the middle of the large Aqueduct area.

Right after both Terra and Kallima arrived in the large Aqueduct area, they heard 4 sets of running footsteps coming toward them from behind and when they turned their heads to see who is it, they saw with surprise looks on their faces that it's Aqua, Beaufort, Ventus and Josette.

"Ven! Jo!" Terra, Aqua and Beaufort exclaim in surprise unison at both Ventus and Josette.

"Terra! Aqua! Beau!" Ventus and Josette exclaim in surprise unison back to them as well before all 6 keyblade wielders raised their heads to glance up and saw the 6 large armor Unverseds flying high above them and they quickly summoned forth their keyblades in preparation for a battle.

The 6 large armor Unverseds then began to transform and merged together into 2 large humanoid Unverseds (called Trinity and Ganymede Armors) before the 2 humanoid Unverseds slowly descend themselves down on the ground in front of the 6 keyblade wielders.

Both Trinity and Ganymede Armors then began their first and second attacks on the 6 keyblade wielders by firing out a series of short beam of lasers then lightning at them, causing the 6 keyblade wielders to quickly dodged away from the series of laser and lightning attacks from both Trinity and Ganymede Armors until the series of laser and lightning attacks ceased. Four of the keyblade wielders (which is Terra, Ventus, Beaufort and Josette) then raised their keyblades and charge toward both Trinity and Ganymede Armors to land a series of strong slashes and strikes while both Aqua and Kallima stay back and hold out their keyblades in front of them to cast a series of strong Fira, Blizzara and Thundara magic attacks on both Trinity and Ganymede Armors (which injured the 2 armor Unverseds greatly before they retaliate by firing out a series of fireballs at the 6 keyblade wielders, causing them to dodged away for the second time while using their keyblades to deflect the some of the fireballs away from them).

After both Trinity and Ganymede Armors ceased using their fireball attacks on the 6 keyblade wielders, Terra, Aqua, Ventus, Beaufort, Josette and Kallima then charge toward both Trinity and Ganymede Armors together and they raised and swung their keyblades down on both Trinity and Ganymede to destroy their arms and legs, leaving only their torso behind.

"Terra! Ven! Beau! Jo!" yelled Aqua.

"All together now, everyone!" yelled Terra.

"Right!" yelled Beaufort.

"Yeah!" yelled Josette.

"C'mon!" yelled Ventus.

"Let's do it!" yelled Kallima.

Terra, Aqua and Ventus jumped high into the air in unison above Trinity's torso with their keyblades raised above them before they swung their keyblades down on Trinity's torso to destroy it while Beaufort, Josette and Kallima did the same to Gnaymede's torso. After the 6 keyblade wielders landed safely on the ground, they then turned around and watched as both Trinity and Ganymede's torso fell with loud thuds to the ground before they dissipated into thin air.

"Got 'im." said Terra to the other 5 keyblade wielders.

"We make a great team." said Aqua happily to them.

"We sure do." said Ventus as he nodded his head to them (same goes for Beaufort, Josette and Kallima) before both he and Josette glance at Kallima. "And who are you?" Ventus asked Kallima.

"I'm Kallima. Keyblade apprentice and granddaughter of Master Yen Sid." said Kallima as she introduced herself to both Ventus and Josette. "And you 2 must be Ventus and Josette, am I right?"

"Yes, we are." said Josette.

"Oh yeah, I forgot! I got you guys these tickets." said Ventus as he pull out 6 multi-coloured cards with a Mickey Mouse shaped cloud and the yellow-coloured words that spelled "Disney Town Passport" and showed the cards to Terra, Aqua, Beaufort, Josette and Kallima.

"Tickets for us? For what?" asked Terra in a confused tone of voice at Ventus.

"They're lifetime passes to Disney Town, Terra." replied Josette as she rolled her eyes at Terra.

"Yeah, like what Jo said." said Ventus with a small nod of his head to Josette while he hand over the other 4 cards to Terra, Aqua, Beaufort and Kallima. "He said to- he said to take 4 grown-ups." added Ventus with an embarrassed look on his face.

"You mean us?" said Aqua before she, Beaufort, Terra and Kallima glance at each other and they began chuckling together.

"Seriously, Ven, Jo, listen to us… We need to get you two home-" said Beaufort in a no-nonsense tone of voice to both Ventus and Josette.

"It's okay, Beau. Trust us, that helmet guy and the masked girl are history." said Ventus in a reassuring tone of voice to Beaufort.

"Yeah, Beau. Ven and I and another keyblade wielder named Mickey teamed up and defeat them together. They'll never say bad things about you anymore, Terra." said Josette as she glance at both Terra and Beaufort (while Kallima had a surprise look on her face at hearing that Mickey helped both Ventus and Josette out).

Terra gasped in surprise/worry before he raised and placed his hand on Ventus's right shoulder. "You and Jo saw the helmet boy and the masked girl?" asked Terra.

"Y-Yes?" replied Ventus with a surprised look on his face.

"Why? What's wrong, Terra?" asked Josette.

Terra didn't answer Josette's question, instead he glance and exchange worried glances with Kallima. "Vanitas and Aglaia…" muttered Terra under his breath before he glance back at both Ventus and Josette. "Ven, Jo… You 2 let Aqua and Beau take you 2 home." said Terra firmly to them.

"No way. We wanna go with you guys." protested Ventus.

"Yeah! We can help you guys out by going with you all." said Josette.

"You two can't. We have a dangerous task ahead of us. And we don't want to see either you or Jo get hurt." said Terra to both Ventus and Josette (which make them lowered their heads to look down at the ground sadly).

"See, Ven, Jo, even Terra agrees with me and Aqua. So will you two come home with us?" said Beaufort to both Ventus and Josette and didn't received any replies from them.

"And what is this dangerous task you spoke of, Terra?" asked Aqua as she glance at Terra with a depressed/hurt look on her face. "It doesn't sound like what Master Eraqus told you to do."

"It might be a different route, but I'm fighting the darkness, Aqua." replied Terra.

"It's true, Aqua. I've been with him and I see him did try his best in fighting it." said Kallima (which make Terra give her a grateful look).

"Really? Because Aqua and I are not so sure of it, Kallima." said Beaufort to Kallima as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Beau's got a point. Because he and I've been to the same worlds as you and Kallima and I've seen what you've done, Terra. You shouldn't put yourself so close to the darkness." said Aqua.

"What? How can you and Beau say that to him, Aqua?" said Josette with a disbelief look on her face at both Aqua and Beaufort.

"Listen to yourselves, Aqua, Beau. Terra would never-" Ventus began protesting to both Aqua and Beaufort.

"You 2 mean that you 2 have been spying on me?" said Terra in a slightly angry tone of voice to both Aqua and Beaufort, cutting off Ventus's protest. "Is that what he told you and Beau to do? The Master's orders?"

"He was only-" said Aqua before she trailed off into silence.

"He's was just trying to-" said Beaufort before he trailed off into silence as well.

"Aqua… Beau…" said Ventus in a sad/disappointed tone of voice to them.

"I get it." said Terra as he turned and began to walked away from them.

"Terra-" both Ventus and Josette called out in unison to him.

"Just stay put, Ven, Jo!" Terra stopped in his tracks to snapped quite loudly at them both. "I'm on my own now, all right?" Terra added to them before he resumed walking away from them.

"I can't believe that you two and Master Eraqus would be so distrusting of Terra. Aren't you guys supposed to be friends?" said Kallima as she glance at both Aqua and Beaufort with disapproval on her face before she followed after Terra.

"Of course we are, Kallima!" said Beaufort loudly to Kallima (who didn't answer back to him).

"Terra! Please listen! Master Eraqus has no reason to distrust you, really! He was just worried!" Aqua protested quite loudly to Terra (who didn't answer back to her as well).

XXXX

 **A few minutes later…**

Both Terra and Kallima walked down the concrete pathway inside one of the large inner area of Radiant Garden after they walked away and leave Aqua, Beaufort, Ventus and Josette behind in the large Aqueduct area.

"Master Xehanort is the only one I can still count on." said Terra to himself.

"So you're saying that you're going to find and see him, isn't it, Terra?" asked Kallima.

"Yeah." replied Terra.

"Hello to you, Kallima. And this guy with you must be Terra, right?" said Braig (a tan-skinned, shoulder-length black-haired, brown-eyed man who's wearing a long-sleeve dark-grey coloured button shirt with a red-coloured scarf tied around his neck, a black belt tied around his waist, long white gloves on his hands, long dark grey pants and black boots on his legs) suddenly to both Terra and Kallima (which make them stopped in their tracks to glance at him) a few feet in front of them both.

"Hello, Braig. What are you doing here?" said Kallima as she scowled at Braig (who ignored her and glance at Terra).

"It's that old coot- he won't stop asking for you. That's why I came all the way out here to get you just so he'd clam up." Braig told Terra.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Terra.

"Ha! Do I have to spell it out for you, slowpoke?" replied Braig as he smirked at Terra. "Xehanort, whatever he's called. He's, you know, my prisoner."

"Oh, Braig. You were always such a terrible liar." said Kallima as she shake her head at Braig.

"There's no way that Master Xehanort would let himself be easily caught and held captive by a thug like you." said Terra.

"As if! I've got the old coot at my mercy, you two can see for yourselves if you two don't believe me." said Braig before he turned around and look away from both Terra and Kallima. "I'm holding him underneath the Outer Garden. So you two better show up before I lose my patience. Ciao." Braig added to both Terra and Kallima before he began walking away from them.

"There's no way it's true- but no harm in looking." said Terra to Kallima as he raised and placed his hand under his chin in deep thinking.

"Right. Let's go, Terra." said Kallima as she nodded to Terra before they began walking down the path away from the inner area of Radiant Garden, walked past Fountain Court, Castle Town, central square area and down the previous pathway (which they arrived and landed on) until they reached the large Outer Garden area and went through the opened doorway of a tall grey-coloured statue standing in the middle of the fountain near the large black iron gates of the Outer Garden.

After both Terra and Kallima went into the opened doorway of the tall grey-coloured statue, they walked down the stairs and soon found themselves standing on a large dark yellow-coloured platform inside a large room (which is underneath the Outer Garden) with dozens of large pipes built into the wall in front of them and dozens of waterfalls flowing from the ceiling down onto large pools of water far below them. Both Terra and Kallima then look around the place for Master Xehanort before they turned around, raised their heads to look up and they saw Master Xehanort bound in chains against a large pipe on another platform high above them.

"Master Xehanort!" exclaim Terra with a shock look on his face while Kallima gasped in shock as well.

"The old coot certainly knows how to take punishment." said Braig to both Terra and Kallima (who immediately turned to glance at him) as he walked down the platform stairs toward them. "Just like I know how to deal it out."

"How could you, Braig?" said Kallima in a disapproving tone of voice to Braig before she summoned forth her keyblade.

"You monster! What are you after?" said Terra in an angry tone of voice to Braig before he summoned forth his keyblade as well.

"Those things right there. It's called the Keyblade, isn't it?" said Braig as he raised his left hand and pointed a finger at Terra and Kallima's keyblade (while he holds a silver and purple-coloured crossbow weapon in his right hand). "Yep, it seems like these days everybody's got one of those… even grandpa there. When I nabbed him, he told me all about it-what a weapon like that can do. How could I not want one?" Braig told them both.

"Well, you'll find they're picky about their owners." said Terra.

"Ha, if I heard the old guy right, you're what they call Keyblade Master material." said Braig as he smirked at Terra. "So if I defeat you, that makes me the real Keyslinger, if you catch my drift. Not the most polite way to go about it… but what can you do?" added Braig before he smiled smugly at them, which annoy them and make them began charging toward Braig.

"Ah-ah, not so fast, you two! One more step and the old coot goes boom." Braig warned both Terra and Kallima before he turned to glance up at Master Xehanort. "You 2 think that I'm gonna fight fair? As if! Those key's too powerful for us to go mano a mano."

"Why you…" said Kallima as she glared at Braig (after both she and Terra stop charging toward him for fear of endangering Master Xehanort) before she suddenly felt someone grabbed hold of her arms, pinned her arms tightly and painfully behind her with one hand (which make the keyblade in her hands disappear) while the person's other hand covered her mouth to prevent her from speaking or shouting before the person who restrain her from behind pull her backward away from both Terra and Braig (which make her began struggling to freed herself from her captor).

"Now, now, Lady Kallima. Why don't you be a good girl and watched the show unfold?" said a deep male voice calmly to Kallima and she widen her eyes in shock then fear as she recognized her captor's voice to be none other than Ardyn Izunia (a tan-skinned, shoulder-length reddish-violet coloured hair, amber-eyed man wearing a white, red and black-coloured shirt with a long black jacket (that had white and gray trim on it and a grey and white mantle on his shoulders) over it, long grey pants with black boots on his feet, a red scarf wrapped around his neck, a black fedora hat on his head and a long, black winglike accessory strapped on his left arm), the Accursed.

"Yeah, that's right, Kallima. Just stand there and watch." said Braig mockingly to Kallima as he nodded his head in agreement at Ardyn.

"Kallima!" said Terra in a fearful tone of voice to Kallima when he briefly turned and saw her being restrain by Ardyn before he heard Braig raising and shooting dozens of large, black arrows toward him, causing him to quickly raised his keyblade in front of him to defend himself against Braig's arrows attack until some of Braig's arrows attack become more harder and the attack managed to break through Terra's defense, knocked him back before he landed hard on his back on the ground.

"Hmph. For a Keyblade Master, you're not very-what's the word-good?" said Braig in a disappointed tone of voice to Terra (who groaned and slowly bring himself to sit up from the ground while Kallima kept on struggling against Ardyn's tight hold on her to no avail).

"What are you doing, Terra? You must fight!" Master Xehanort yelled down at Terra.

"But Master, you'll-" said Terra as he glance up at Master Xehanort with a shock look on his face.

"Never mind me! You must fight! You cannot let this ruffian win and you can't let that man restrain Kallima any longer!" said Master Xehanort firmly to Terra. "Think of your master, Eraqus- the shame that he and your fellow pupils were forced to bear! Use the Keyblade!"

Terra nodded to Master Xehanort before he stood up from the ground, got into a battle stance while glaring angrily at Braig then turned his head to glared angrily at Ardyn (while small wisps of darkness began to appear and emanate out of his body).

"Pfft. So much for the bluff." said Braig mockingly at Terra.

" _Terra, no! You can't let the darkness take you! Suppress it!"_ pleaded Kalima in her mind before she felt herself being teleported away from the platform with Ardyn and found herself standing outside in the Outer Garden with him before she struggle against his hold and managed to freed herself from him.

"You bastard! How could you restrain and prevented me from helping Terra out?" demanded Kallima angrily at Ardyn, who merely smiled smugly at her.

"How could I, you ask, Lady Kallima? Surely you already know the answer to that." said Ardyn smugly to Kallima, which anger her more before she summoned forth her keyblade and swing her keyblade several times at Ardyn, who easily dodged away from each of her strikes before he shot his hand forward to her neck, grabbed hold of her neck tightly, slammed her down on her back on the ground before he pull out a dagger from his pants pocket, raised and plunge the dagger down into her left arm.

"Ugh! Ah!" Kallima cried out in pain from Ardyn grabbing and slamming her onto the ground then stabbing her left arm with a dagger before he let go of her and step back to watched her being in pain with an amused look on his face.

"This anger attitude of yours just won't do, Lady Kallima, because now you got yourself hurt because of it. It would have been better for you had you stay quiet and obedient." said Ardyn mockingly at Kallima (who ceased her cry of pain to glared at him).

"Get away from her!" a slightly deep and different voice of another man yelled out at Ardyn before he quickly dodged away just as a long silver-coloured spear weapon stabbed onto the spot where he's standing on a few seconds ago before a man clad from his head down to his feet in dark purple-coloured dragoon armor jumped down from the sky next to his spear in front of Kallima.

"Kain Highwind!" said Kallima, surprise then relief at seeing him.

"Hello, Kallima. Are you alright?" asked Kain in a concern tone of voice to Kallima.

"Not right now. But I'll be soon enough." said Kallima as she grab and pull out the dagger in her left arm (which make her gasped in pain), threw the dagger away then she raised her keyblade above her to cast Cura on herself to healed her arm and back wound.

"Well, now that your dragoon in shining armor has come to your aid, I'll be leaving now, Lady Kallima. Farewell. Until we meet again." said Ardyn as he took off his fedora hat and gave Kallima a mocking bow before he straighten himself, put his fedora hat back onto his head and teleport away from them both and the Outer Garden. After Ardyn vanished in front of both Kain and Kallima, Kain then grab and pull his spear weapon out of the ground before he turned around and hold out his right hand at Kallima.

"Here, take my hand, Kallima." said Kain.

"Thanks for your help, Kain." said Kallima as she placed her hand in his and let him help her to stand up from the ground. "But now I've to go and stop Terra before it's too late!"

"What? Why, Kallima? And who is this Terra?" asked Kain in a confused tone of voice to Kallima.

"He's a friend of mine, Kain! And right now he's fighting Braig in the room under the Outer Garden! I've to go and stop him!" replied Kallima worriedly to Kain.

"Alright, go. But be careful, okay?" said Kain.

"I know." said Kallima before she quickly went through the opened doorway of the statue and run down the stairs toward the platform where both Terra and Braig were.

But just as she arrived on the platform, she saw with worry then horror look on her face at Terra, who's now floating in thin air with his keyblade raised above him before he gather a huge sphere of dark energy and shoots a fierce beam of dark energy towards Braig, which struck hard on his right eye and caused him to fall on his back on the ground before he covered his injured right eye with his hand. Terra then shot forth another beam of dark energy up toward Master Xehanort, which struck the chains tied around him and freed him. After Master Xehanort is freed, Braig stood up and let out a loud yell of pain before he glared angrily at Terra for a brief moment, then quickly jumped backward away from Terra and Kallima and out of the room.

"This power…" said Terra in a shocked tone of voice to himself.

" _No. Why? Again I failed a few seconds too late to stop him from using the power of darkness. All because Ardyn prevented me from helping him."_ thought Kallima sadly in her mind.

"Well done, Terra. You have taken yet another step forward." said Master Xehanort proudly to Terra as he make his way toward him past Kallima.

"But I was consumed by anger... and hatred. That was the power of darkness." said Terra.

"Darkness that you channeled." said Master Xehanort as he raised and hold out his arms.

"No… I succumbed to it." Said Terra sadly to himself as he lowered and dismiss his keyblade. "Just like when I stole Princess Aurora's heart of light. I can never return home now. I'm a failure."

" _So do I, Terra."_ thought Kallima in agreement to Terra's words as she watched both Terra and Master Xehanort talk in silence.

"Then don't. You could be my pupil." Master Xehanort told Terra, which make him gasped and glance at Master Xehanort in surprise. "Master Eraqus, you see, is so afraid of darkness, that he too, has succumbed- not to darkness, but to light. It shines so bright, he forgets that light begets darkness. And Aqua, Ventus, Beaufort, Josette and Kallima here, their light shines too bright. It is only natural that they cast shadows on your hearts." said Master Xehanort as he raised and pointed a finger at Terra's chest, where his heart is.

Terra glance down at Master Xehanort's finger pointing at where his heart is before he glance up at Master Xehanort just as he walked past him and he turned around to glance at him.

"Eraqus… he's such a fool!" said Master Xehanort in a disappointed tone of voice at Master Eraqus. "Light and darkness, they are a balance-one that must always be maintained. Terra… you are the one who shows the true Mark of Mastery, but he refuses to acknowledge and see it."

"And I know why. It is because he fears you." said Master Xehanort as he turned around to glance sadly at Terra before he approach and hold out his hands to clasp Terra's right hand in his. "Join me, Terra. Together, we can do the worlds much greater good, by wielding light and darkness in equal shares."

"Master Xehanort…" said Terra to Master Xehanort (who nodded before he turned to look away from him).

"Go and see more worlds. Seek out the darkness that upsets the balance. Find Vanitas, save Aglaia. And bring an end to him…" Master Xehanort told Terra before he looks back over his right shoulder at Terra. "Master Terra." Master Xehanort added to him.

Terra gasped in shock and surprise at what Master Xehanort just told him before he shook his head a little, straighten then bowed himself down before Master Xehanort, who nodded then glance away from him and began walking away from him. But before Master Xehanort leave, he stopped in his tracks next to Kallima to say something to her.

"And Kallima, you don't have to blame yourself too much for what happened. You're not to blame for unable to help Terra out." Master Xehanort told Kallima before he resumed walking away from them both, went up the stairs and out of the underground room. After Master Xehanort's leave the room, Terra immediately make his way toward Kallima.

"Kallima, are you alright? Did that man hurt you or anything after he took you away?" asked Terra in a concern tone of voice to Kallima.

"Yeah, he did hurt me a little, but luckily someone came to help me drove him away so it's fine now, Terra." replied Kallima in a reassuring tone of voice to Terra (who let out a small sigh of relief at hearing and knowing that Kallima's alright now before they both turned and began walking out of the room).

After bothTerra and Kallima walked out of the statue's opened doorway back into the Outer Garden, they suddenly heard the sounds of two sets of footsteps running toward them, turned and saw that it's both Ventus and Josette.

"Terra!" both Ventus and Josette called out in unison to Terra before they stopped in their tracks in front of both Terra and Kallima. "Let us go with you and Kallima, Terra!" said Ventus to Terra.

"Please, Terra." added Josette.

"We can't do that, Ven, Jo." said Terra as he turned to his right to look away from both Ventus and Josette.

"Why not, Terra?" asked Ventus in a disappointed tone of voice to Terra while Josette lowered her head to glance sadly down at the ground.

"We just-" said Kallima before she trailed off into silence.

When I need you and Jo, Ven, I know that you 2 will be there." said Terra to both Ventus and Josette.

"Same goes for me too." Said Kallima as she smiled at both Ventus and Josette (who smiled back at her).

"Well, why wouldn't we? You're our friend, Terra. And Kallima's our friend too." said Ventus happily to Terra before he glance at Josette. "Right, Jo?"

"Yeah, Ven." said Josette happily to Ventus.

"Yeah. You're right. Thanks, Ven, Jo." said Terra in a grateful tone of voice to both Ventus and Josette before he and Kallima change into their Keyblade Armors, threw and summoned forth their Keyblade Gliders before they got onto their gliders and took off away from Radiant Garden.

XXXX

 **A few minutes later, after the departure of Terra and Kallima…**

Master Xehanort glance at the waterfalls flowing from the ceiling down onto the pools below on the platform which he and Aglaia is now standing on before they both felt the footsteps and presence of Braig approaching them from behind and decided to say nothing.

"Hey! You old coot!" yelled Braig angrily at Master Xehanort before he raised and pointed 2 of his crossbow weapons at their backs and began firing arrow after arrow at them (which merely deflected away from the protect magic that both Master Xehanort and Aglaia casted on them to protect them from harm). "You said that I wouldn't get hurt! I didn't sign up to be collateral damage for you or your niece! No way, as if!" said Braig angrily at Master Xehanort (while he and Aglaia turned around to glance at Braig and saw that his right eye and part of his face and head been covered up by bandages) as he got close enough to Master Xehanort and pointed one of his crossbow weapon threateningly at Master Xehanort's forehead. But before he could shoot him, Aglaia summoned forth her Dark Seeker keyblade, raised and pointed her keyblade threateningly at Braig's neck (which make him gulped his throat in fear).

"You were saying, Braig?" said Aglaia in a sinister tone of voice at Braig.

"Okay! Okay, fine, fine! Just… just put that down, girl! You two still need me to do something, isn't it?" said Braig in a fearful tone of voice to Aglaia. "And all I'm asking is that you two hold up your ends of the bargain."

"Yeah, we do. And don't you ever think of threatening us again, Braig." said Aglaia in a warning tone of voice to Braig before she dismiss her keyblade (which make Braig let out a deep sigh of relief).

"Yeah, I get it. And heh, I mean, what's a little scratch on my face and eye, huh? All things considered, I'm just glad that he didn't steal my heart like Princess Whatever-It-Was. That would have ruined my entire week for sure." said Braig to both Master Xehanort and Aglaia as he dismiss his 2 crossbow weapons.

"About that, it's very unlikely, Braig." said Aglaia.

"Huh? What do you mean by that, girl?" asked Braig with a confused look on his face at Aglaia.

"What my niece mean is that a powerful light still lives within Terra." replied Master Xehanort as he turned to look away from Braig. "You see, people like him… they don't have the power to steal other people's hearts."

"So wait- you 2 mean that… he's not the one who stole her heart?" said Braig, even more confused now while both Master Xehanort and Aglaia began to smiled evilly.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16: Radiant Garden, part 2**

After both Ventus and Josette arrived and landed on the large central square area and dismissed their armors and gliders, they then take a thorough look at the beautiful central square area around them with awed looks on their faces and they soon saw a duck creature wearing a long sleeve, dark blue and black buttons coat with a pair of glasses on his face, a black top hat on his hat and holding a long black cane in his right hand walking by himself down a street between several houses. Both Ventus and Josette then turned to look to their left and they saw Mickey walking by himself down another street away from them.

"Isn't that Mickey, Ven?" Josette asked Ventus in a confused tone of voice.

"Yeah, it's him, Jo." replied Ventus with a small nod of his head to Josette. "Come on, let's follow him." Ventus told Josette.

"Right, Ven." said Josette as she nodded to Ventus before they took off away from the central square area and run down the street after Mickey (and not knowing that both Terra and Kallima came walking up the stairs and stepped onto the central square area after they left to pursued Mickey).

After both Ventus and Josette left the central square area and found themselves inside a large garden area, they then run down the garden pathway toward the staircase leaning against the far left corner of the wall, run up the stairs and turned to their right to run down another pathway (while summoning their keyblades to fight and defeat the Unverseds that appear and got in their way), run up another stairs until they arrived in front of the large castle of Radiant Garden.

Both Ventus and Josette stop to catch their breaths a little before they resumed running toward the tall and large dark blue-coloured front double doors of the castle (which is guarded and protected by 2 tan-skinned, shoulder-length black and orange-coloured haired guards wearing long-sleeves dark-grey coloured button shirts, long white gloves on their hands, long dark grey pants and black boots on their legs (the black-haired one is holding a long silver and blue-coloured spear weapon while the orange-haired one is holding an orange and silver-coloured axe weapon).

Just as both Ventus and Josette run nearer toward the closed doors of the castle, the 2 guards suddenly hold out their weapons in front of them both, making them stopped in their tracks and blocking them from the doors.

"Halt, you two." said the black-haired guard to both Ventus and Josette.

"The castle is presently closed." said the orange-haired guard to both Ventus and Josette as well.

"But we saw somebody just came this way! He's a friend of mine and Jo." Ventus told the 2 guards.

"Surely you two must have seen him came this way. His name's Mickey." said Josette to the 2 guards (who briefly glance at each other before they glance back at both Ventus and Josette).

"We aren't aware of any visitors, girl." said the black-haired guard to both Ventus and Josette. "Now you and the boy run along home, before the monsters came and get you two."

"But, we coulda sworn it was him." said Ventus to himself and to Josette.

"Maybe he went off somewhere else, Ven?" Josette told Ventus (who glance and nodded to her) before they turned around and gasped in surprise unison when they saw 2 large crimson, black and dark grey-coloured and dark green, black and grey-coloured helmet Unverseds suddenly appear and hover in thin air far in front of them and the 2 guards.

"They're here!" said the orange-haired guard.

"Radiant Garden shall not fall under the likes of you monsters!" said the black-haired guard as both he and orange-haired guard walked past both Ventus and Josette toward the 2 large helmet Unverseds.

Both Ventus and Josette glance and nodded to each other before they run forward past the 2 guards in pursued of the 2 Unverseds (who turned around and flew away from them).

"Leave this to us!" said Ventus to the 2 guards.

"Stop!" yelled the orange-haired guard.

"But you 2 are just childrens!" yelled the black-haired guard.

"Don't worry! We'll be fine!" Josette yelled back to the 2 guards without looking.

XXXX

Both the black-haired and orange-haired guard glance and nodded to each other and just as they were about to go after both Ventus and Josette, a man's voice spoke out to them from behind, making them stopped in their tracks.

"Now who do you two think will defend the castle if you two go skipping off, Dilan, Aeleus?" said a slightly tan-skinned, long pale blonde-haired, green-eyed man wearing a short-sleeve dark-grey coloured shirt with matching long pants and black boots on his legs and a long sleeve white lab-coat over his shirt and pants to the 2 guards named Dilan and Aeleus after he came walking out of the castle.

"Even." said Dilan to the man named Even.

"But, those childrens…" said Aeleus to Even (who watched both Ventus and Josette run off with a smile on his face).

"Never you worry about them. They're special cases." said Even.

"They're what?" said Aeleus in a surprise tone of voice to Even.

"Even is right, Aeleus. Lord and castle comes first. The boy and the girl will have to fend for themselves." said Dilan to Aeleus (who sigh and reluctantly nodded to him).

"Which reminds me, his Lordship was asking for you two." Even told both Dilan and Aeleus (who nodded before they walked past him toward the castle). "A heart devoid of darkness? Stripped clean of it, at that… and the other one who will share the same fate as the boy soon enough… Very questionable." said Even to himself before he turned around and began to follow both Dilan and Aeleus toward the castle.

XXXX

Both Ventus and Josette run after the 2 Unverseds down the staircases away from the castle and the large garden area and back into the large central square area, where they saw the 2 Unverseds approach the duck creature they saw a few minutes ago in the center of the large central square area.

"Ach! How dare ye two!? Back off, ye fiends!" said the duck creature in an outraged, Scottish-accent tone of voice to the 2 Unverseds as he raised and waved his cane around while backing away from them. "Ye two will not be gettin' my money!"

"Look out!" yelled Ventus.

"Run away now, sir!" yelled Josette before both she and Ventus summoned forth their keyblades, raised and threw their keyblades toward the 2 Unverseds, which struck them dead-on and caused them to turned and flew away from them toward Castle Town.

After both Ventus and Josette managed to drove the 2 Unverseds away from the duck creature with their keyblades, they then summon back their keyblades and run after the 2 Unverseds.

"Wait a moment, laddie and lassie!" the duck creature called out to both Ventus and Josette, making them turned around to glance at the duck creature (while they dismiss their keyblades). "Don't I ever get a chance to repay ye two?"

"No, you don't have to." Ventus told the duck creature before both he and Josette turned away from him.

"Now, just hold your horses, ye two. I dinna mean me fortune. Maybe a wee bit o' gold, or a small token of…" said the duck creature to both Ventus and Josette (which make them turned around and glance back at him before they glance over their shoulders at the 2 Unverseds that's getting farther away from them with desperate looks on their faces).

"Well, could you make it fast? We're kind of in a hurry here!" said Josette anxiously to the duck creature.

"I know- I've just the thing in me hat!" said the duck creature as he take off his hat, snicker and beckoned for both Ventus and Josette to come closer (which they did). "You two can tell me, lad and lass. You two came here from another world, didn't ye?" the duck creature asked both Ventus and Josette (which make them gasped and widened their eyes in surprise at his words).

The duck creature snickered some more at the surprise looks on Ventus's and Josette's faces. "Dinna worry, ye two. Me bill is sealed. Both of your secrets safe with me. I'll not be askin' ye two anymore awkward questions. Ye two see, tis the same with me. I asked a wizard named Merlin to bring me here from another world. After all, adventure is the mother of industry!" said the duck creature to both Ventus and Josette.

"Great! Is that all?" said Ventus.

"If there's nothing else, we'll be leaving now." said Josette.

"Ach! But I'm holding ye two up, lad and lass!" said the duck creature to both Ventus and Josette as he pull out 6 multi-coloured cards with a Mickey Mouse shaped cloud and the yellow-coloured words that spelled "Disney Town Passport" and show the tickets to both Ventus and Josette. "Here ye go, lad and lass. These are lifetime passes to Disney Town. Ye two will have buckets o' fun there, or my name is not Scrooge McDuck. There ye two are- enough for you, your lovely girlfriend and 4 grown-ups." added the duck creature named Scrooge McDuck in a teasing tone of voice to them both.

"Say what? G-Girlfriend!?" stammered Josette as her face turned quite red (same goes for Ventus as he turned to look away from her after both he and Josette take the tickets from Scrooge McDuck). "I'm not his girlfriend!"

Scrooge McDuck snicker some more at their embarrassed reactions before he turned and began to walked away from them. Both Ventus and Josette sigh, glance at each other then quickly glance away in unison to calm themselves. Once Ventus and Josette is sure that they're calm enough, they then turned around and resumed in running after the 2 Unverseds.

As both Ventus and Josette caught up to the 2 Unverseds flying down the street inside Castle Town, they suddenly stopped in their tracks when they heard the loud and annoy voice of a man coming from their left.

"Hang it all! Can't I get a moment's peace!?" said Merlin as he stepped out of his house with an annoyed look on his face.

"Mister, get inside. It's not safe out here." said Ventus worriedly to Merlin.

"He's right, sir. There's some monsters on the loose." said Josette worriedly to Merlin as well.

"Oh, you two ordering me about- now that's unsafe. After all, I'm Merlin the Wizard." said Merlin to both Ventus and Josette. "Oh ho… Two more young ones looking to awake the powers within yourselves, is that it?"

"What? How'd you know?" said Ventus in a surprise tone of voice to Merlin (which make him chuckle).

"We wizards have a knack for knowing such things. The book is on the table inside my house. You two may have a gander, if you two like." said Merlin to both Ventus and Josette before he turned around and walk back into his house.

Both Ventus and Josette glance and exchange confused looks with each other before they decided to head into Merlin's house together. Once both Ventus and Josette stepped into Merlin's house, they then make their way past Merlin (who's busy in reading one of his books) toward the wooden podium (which leaned against the wall next to Merlin's bed) that had a single storybook with the colourful picture of a red-shirt yellow bear, an orange and black-stripe tiger and a plump, dark grey donkey sitting together near a tree with the words "Winnie The Pooh" written at the top of the book.

Ventus then picked the book up from the podium and opened it for himself and Josette to see it's story contents. Soon after Ventus opened the book, a bright light shone out from the first few pages of the book, making both Ventus and Josette quickly covered their eyes with their hands from the light, just as Merlin had told them a few seconds ago, they felt some dormant power within them slowly awaken until the light slowly dimmed down and disappear. Ventus then closed and put the book back onto the podium before both he and Josette bade farewell to Merlin, left his house and resumed their pursuit of the 2 Unverseds.

Both Ventus and Josette chase after the 2 Unverseds away from Castle Town, past the large Fountain Court area, run up a staircase and through a destroy door and run toward the large Aqueduct area (and they were surprise to see Terra, Aqua, Beaufort and Kallima arriving and standing together at the Aqueduct area before they came).

"Ven! Jo!" Terra, Aqua and Beaufort exclaim in surprise unison at both Ventus and Josette.

"Terra! Aqua! Beau!" Ventus and Josette exclaim in surprise unison back to them as well before all 6 keyblade wielders raised their heads to glance up and saw the 6 large armor Unverseds flying high above them and they quickly summoned forth their keyblades in preparation for a battle.

The 6 large armor Unverseds then began to transform and merged together into 2 large humanoid Unverseds (called Trinity and Ganymede Armors) before the 2 humanoid Unverseds slowly descend themselves down on the ground in front of the 6 keyblade wielders.

Both Trinity and Ganymede Armors then began their first and second attacks on the 6 keyblade wielders by firing out a series of short beam of lasers then lightning at them, causing the 6 keyblade wielders to quickly dodged away from the series of laser and lightning attacks from both Trinity and Ganymede Armors until the series of laser and lightning attacks ceased. Four of the keyblade wielders (which is Terra, Ventus, Beaufort and Josette) then raised their keyblades and charge toward both Trinity and Ganymede Armors to land a series of strong slashes and strikes while both Aqua and Kallima stay back and hold out their keyblades in front of them to cast a series of strong Fira, Blizzara and Thundara magic attacks on both Trinity and Ganymede Armors (which injured the 2 armor Unverseds greatly before they retaliate by firing out a series of fireballs at the 6 keyblade wielders, causing them to dodged away for the second time while using their keyblades to deflect the some of the fireballs away from them).

After both Trinity and Ganymede Armors ceased using their fireball attacks on the 6 keyblade wielders, Terra, Aqua, Ventus, Beaufort, Josette and Kallima then charge toward both Trinity and Ganymede Armors together and they raised and swung their keyblades down on both Trinity and Ganymede to destroy their arms and legs, leaving only their torso behind.

"Terra! Ven! Beau! Jo!" yelled Aqua.

"All together now, everyone!" yelled Terra.

"Right!" yelled Beaufort.

"Yeah!" yelled Josette.

"C'mon!" yelled Ventus.

"Let's do it!" yelled Kallima.

Terra, Aqua and Ventus jumped high into the air in unison above Trinity's torso with their keyblades raised above them before they swung their keyblades down on Trinity's torso to destroy it while Beaufort, Josette and Kallima did the same to Gnaymede's torso. After the 6 keyblade wielders landed safely on the ground, they then turned around and watched as both Trinity and Ganymede's torso fell with loud thuds to the ground before they dissipated into thin air.

"Got 'im." said Terra to the other 5 keyblade wielders.

"We make a great team." said Aqua happily to them.

"We sure do." said Ventus as he nodded his head to them (same goes for Beaufort, Josette and Kallima) before both he and Josette glance at Kallima. "And who are you?" Ventus asked Kallima.

"I'm Kallima. Keyblade apprentice and granddaughter of Master Yen Sid." said Kallima as she introduced herself to both Ventus and Josette. "And you 2 must be Ventus and Josette, am I right?"

"Yes, we are." said Josette.

"Oh yeah, I forgot! I got you guys these tickets." said Ventus as he pull out 6 multi-coloured cards with a Mickey Mouse shaped cloud and the yellow-coloured words that spelled "Disney Town Passport" and showed the cards to Terra, Aqua, Beaufort, Josette and Kallima.

"Tickets for us? For what?" asked Terra in a confused tone of voice at Ventus.

"They're lifetime passes to Disney Town, Terra." replied Josette as she rolled her eyes at Terra.

"Yeah, like what Jo said." said Ventus with a small nod of his head to Josette while he hand over the other 4 cards to Terra, Aqua, Beaufort and Kallima. "He said to- he said to take 4 grown-ups." added Ventus with an embarrassed look on his face.

"You mean us?" said Aqua before she, Beaufort, Terra and Kallima glance at each other and they began chuckling together.

"Seriously, Ven, Jo, listen to us… We need to get you two home-" said Beaufort in a no-nonsense tone of voice to both Ventus and Josette.

"It's okay, Beau. Trust us, that helmet guy and the masked girl are history." said Ventus in a reassuring tone of voice to Beaufort.

"Yeah, Beau. Ven and I and another keyblade wielder named Mickey teamed up and defeat them together. They'll never say bad things about you anymore, Terra." said Josette as she glance at both Terra and Beaufort (while Kallima had a surprise look on her face at hearing that Mickey helped both Ventus and Josette out).

Terra gasped in surprise/worry before he raised and placed his hand on Ventus's right shoulder. "You and Jo saw the helmet boy and the masked girl?" asked Terra.

"Y-Yes?" replied Ventus with a surprised look on his face.

"Why? What's wrong, Terra?" asked Josette.

Terra didn't answer Josette's question, instead he glance and exchange worried glances with Kallima. "Vanitas and Aglaia…" muttered Terra under his breath before he glance back at both Ventus and Josette. "Ven, Jo… You 2 let Aqua and Beau take you 2 home." said Terra firmly to them.

"No way. We wanna go with you guys." protested Ventus.

"Yeah! We can help you guys out by going with you all." said Josette.

"You two can't. We have a dangerous task ahead of us. And we don't want to see either you or Jo get hurt." said Terra to both Ventus and Josette (which make them lowered their heads to look down at the ground sadly).

"See, Ven, Jo, even Terra agrees with me and Aqua. So will you two come home with us?" said Beaufort to both Ventus and Josette and didn't received any replies from them.

"And what is this dangerous task you spoke of, Terra?" asked Aqua as she glance at Terra with a depressed/hurt look on her face. "It doesn't sound like what Master Eraqus told you to do."

"It might be a different route, but I'm fighting the darkness, Aqua." replied Terra.

"It's true, Aqua. I've been with him and I see him did try his best in fighting it." said Kallima (which make Terra give her a grateful look).

"Really? Because Aqua and I are not so sure of it, Kallima." said Beaufort to Kallima as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Beau's got a point. Because he and I've been to the same worlds as you and Kallima and I've seen what you've done, Terra. You shouldn't put yourself so close to the darkness." said Aqua.

"What? How can you and Beau say that to him, Aqua?" said Josette with a disbelief look on her face at both Aqua and Beaufort.

"Listen to yourselves, Aqua, Beau. Terra would never-" Ventus began protesting to both Aqua and Beaufort.

"You 2 mean that you 2 have been spying on me?" said Terra in a slightly angry tone of voice to both Aqua and Beaufort, cutting off Ventus's protest. "Is that what he told you and Beau to do? The Master's orders?"

"He was only-" said Aqua before she trailed off into silence.

"He's was just trying to-" said Beaufort before he trailed off into silence as well.

"Aqua… Beau…" said Ventus in a sad/disappointed tone of voice to them.

"I get it." said Terra as he turned and began to walked away from them.

"Terra-" both Ventus and Josette called out in unison to him.

"Just stay put, Ven, Jo!" Terra stopped in his tracks to snapped quite loudly at them both. "I'm on my own now, all right?" Terra added to them before he resumed walking away from them.

"I can't believe that you two and Master Eraqus would be so distrusting of Terra. Aren't you guys supposed to be friends?" said Kallima as she glance at both Aqua and Beaufort with disapproval on her face before she followed after Terra.

"Of course we are, Kallima!" said Beaufort loudly to Kallima (who didn't answer back to him).

"Terra! Please listen! Master Eraqus has no reason to distrust you, really! He was just worried!" Aqua protested quite loudly to Terra (who didn't answer back to her as well).

"You two are awful, Aqua, Beau." said Ventus as he and Josette turned to glance at both Aqua and Beaufort with disapproving looks on their faces.

"So now you two know the truth." said Aqua as she turned to glance at both Ventus and Josette while Beaufort stay silent. "The Master does loves Terra, and you two know that too."

"Yeah, we know. But still, why do you two have to say such distrusting and hurtful words to Terra, Aqua, Beau?" said Josette.

"That's, we…" Beaufort began saying then trailed off into silence once again.

"Were you and Beau also "ordered" to take me and Jo home?" Ventus asked both Aqua and Beaufort (which make them sigh in unison).

"Guess you two are, huh?" said Josette with a solemn look on her face.

"Aqua, Beau… now that you two are Keyblade Masters, you two have let it go to your heads. We're gonna go after Terra and Kallima. Come on, Jo." said Ventus to both Aqua and Beaufort as he glance at Josette.

"Yeah. Let's go, Ven." said Josette as she nodded to Ventus before both she and Ventus took off in pursuit of both Terra and Kallima, leaving both Aqua and Beaufort behind in the Aqueduct area.

XXXX

 **A few minutes later…**

After both Ventus and Josette run out of the Aqueduct area, they turned to their right to run down the concrete pathway into one of the large inner area of Radiant Garden, run out of the area and run past the Fountain Court and Castle Town and as they run back into the central square area, they saw with worried looks on their faces at a young short silver-haired, slightly fair-skinned, blue-eyed boy wearing a short sleeve dark blue shirt with long grey pants and matching shoes on his feet and a long sleeve white lab-coat over his shirt and a young light brown-haired, slightly fair-skinned, green-eyed girl wearing a short sleeve dark green shirt with long blue jeans, white shoes on her feet and a long sleeve white lab-coat over her shirt like the boy standing together in the middle of the central square area, surrounded by dozens of Floods Unverseds. Both Ventus and Josette then summoned forth their keyblades and run toward the boy and the girl.

"Run, you two!" said Ventus to them both.

"We'll take care of these monsters!" said Josette to them as well, making them nodded silently to her and Ventus before they turned around and began to run to safety.

Once the boy and the girl have run off to safety, both Ventus and Josette then raised their keyblades, charge toward the horde of Floods Unverseds and they soon defeated and destroy all of them. After both Ventus and Josette got rid of the horde of Floods Unverseds and dismiss their keyblades, they then heard a man calling out to someone, turned and saw that it's Even.

"Ienzo, Kyra, where are you two? Answer me." Even called out before he turned and saw both Ienzo and Kyra walked past both Ventus and Josette (who turned to glance at them) toward him. "Ah, there you two are. Didn't I tell you two not to wander off, childrens?" said Even as he approach and stopped in front of both Ienzo and Kyra before he turned to glance at both Ventus and Josette. "I see we owe you two our thanks. We've done our best to raise this boy and this girl. Since their poor parents are not here to do it." Even told/explain to both Ventus and Josette.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, Ienzo, Kyra." said Josette sadly to both Ienzo and Kyra.

"Oh, you two are also on your own too, huh?" said Ventus sadly to both Ienzo and Kyra as well but they remain silent.

"Excuse me, sir. But Ven and I are looking for some friends of ours. One of our friends is a tall guy dressed kinda like Ven while the other one is a girl like me- Have you seen them both?" Josette asked Even.

"Hmmm… Perhaps I did see them in the Outer Garden. Just follow this road to your left, you two." replied Even as he raised and pointed his finger at the doorway to their left (which they turned and saw the doorway).

"Thank you." said Ventus in a grateful tone of voice to Even.

"No, thank you, you two, for protecting and keeping Ienzo and Kyra out of harm's way. And… Well, let's say that I've a feeling we're destined to cross paths again." said Even as he gave an unreadable smile to both Ventus and Josette (which caused confused looks to appear on their faces) before he, Ienzo and Kyra turned and walked away from them.

Both Ventus and Josette then turned and run toward the doorway, run down the stairs through the doorway and down the pathway until they reached the large Outer Garden area. Both Ventus and Josette then saw both Terra and Kallima standing together in the middle of the Outer Garden in front of them and they run toward them both (which make both Terra and Kallima turned to glance at them when they heard their approaching footsteps).

"Terra!" both Ventus and Josette called out in unison to Terra before they stopped in their tracks in front of both Terra and Kallima. "Let us go with you and Kallima, Terra!" said Ventus to Terra.

"Please, Terra." added Josette.

"We can't do that, Ven, Jo." said Terra as he turned to his right to look away from both Ventus and Josette.

"Why not, Terra?" asked Ventus in a disappointed tone of voice to Terra while Josette lowered her head to glance sadly down at the ground.

"We just-" said Kallima before she trailed off into silence.

When I need you and Jo, Ven, I know that you 2 will be there." said Terra to both Ventus and Josette.

"Same goes for me too." Said Kallima as she smiled at both Ventus and Josette (who smiled back at her).

"Well, why wouldn't we? You're our friend, Terra. And Kallima's our friend too." said Ventus happily to Terra before he glance at Josette. "Right, Jo?"

"Yeah, Ven." said Josette happily to Ventus.

"Yeah. You're right. Thanks, Ven, Jo." said Terra in a grateful tone of voice to both Ventus and Josette before they watched as both Terra and Kallima change into their Keyblade Armors, threw and summoned forth their Keyblade Gliders before they got onto their gliders and took off away from Radiant Garden.

After both Ventus and Josette watched both Terra and Kallima took off away from Radiant Garden, they then turned around and run off to search for both Aqua and Beaufort.

XXXX

 **Another few minutes later…**

When both Ventus and Josette run back into the central square area, they saw both Aqua and Beaufort standing together in the middle of the area and approach them.

"Aqua, Beau!" both Ventus and Josette called out to them, which make both Aqua and Beaufort turned and glance at them.

"Ven, Jo." said Beaufort.

"Were you two able to find them?" asked Aqua.

"Yeah, we did, Aqua." replied Josette with a small nod of her head to Aqua.

"But, they already took off." said Ventus.

"Right." said Aqua.

"Then there's no reason for us to stay here anymore." said Beaufort.

"Let us go with you two, Aqua, Beau." said Ventus.

"Please." added Josette.

"No, Ven, Jo. Do as we say and go home." snapped Aqua as she lightly glared at both Ventus and Josette (who winced at her harsh tone of voice then lowered their heads to look down at the ground sadly).

"Why won't you and Beau let us go with you two?" said Josette sadly to Aqua.

"Try to understand, Ven, Jo. Aqua and I don't want to see and put you two in harm's way." said Beaufort softly to both Ventus and Josette and he raised and placed his hands on their shoulders.

"Beau's right, you two." said Aqua softly to both Ventus and Josette as well before she and Beaufort change into their keyblade armors, walked past both Ventus and Josette and took off away from Radiant Garden.

After both Aqua and Beaufort leave Radiant Garden, both Ventus and Josette decides to walked toward and sat down side by side against the wall of the central square area and thinking back about one of the time they trained with Terra, Aqua and Beaufort.

XXXX

 _Both Terra and Ventus were training quite hard against each other with their wooden sword and wooden keyblade on the forecourt area in the Land of Departure while Aqua, Beaufort and Josette were standing on the sidelines and watching them train. A few seconds later, Terra swung his wooden keyblade down on Ventus and send him flying backward away from him before he landed on his back on the ground (while his wooden sword fell out of his hand and landed on the ground to his right)._

" _Giving up already? C'mon, Ven. I thought you were stronger than that." said Terra._

" _Ven, you almost had him." said Aqua._

" _You can do it, Ven. Come on and get back up." said Beaufort._

" _Yeah, Ven!" said Josette._

" _Hey, that's a bit unfair of you three, encouraging and cheering for him to get up and beat me." said Terra as he scowled at Aqua, Beaufort and Josette, which make them smirked back at him._

 _Encouraged by the cheering of Aqua, Beaufort and Josette, Ventus take hold of his wooden sword, got up to his feet then got into a battle stance before he charge toward Terra to resumed their training. A half-hour later, all 5 of them sat side by side together at the edge of the forecourt ledge and staring out into the distance of their homeworld._

" _Ven, you see all those dents and nicks on your wooden sword that you carry?" said Terra to Ventus as he glance down at the wooden sword (which is filled with dents and chips marks on it) on Ventus's lap._

" _Each one of those is proof that you're learning and training hard." said Aqua._

 _"You're trying too hard to move your body. You need to learn to let your body move you." said Terra as he raised and held his wooden keyblade in front of him before he stood up, cleared his throat a little before he raised and held his keyblade up for the second time. "In your hand, take this blade. And so long as you have the makings, then through this simple act of taking, it's wielder you shall one day be made."_

" _What's that about? Who went and made you master?" said Josette sarcastically at Terra while Beaufort snicker a little at Terra's speech (which make him scowled at them both)._

" _Being a keyblade master is all I've dreamed about." Terra told them._

" _Well, yeah. But you're not the only one dreamed of becoming a keyblade master, Terra." said Beaufort._

" _I know. You, me, Ven, Aqua and Jo all share the same dream." said Terra in an agreeing tone of voice to Beaufort before he got down on one knee in front of Ventus and hold out his wooden keyblade to him. Ventus smiled before he raised and placed his hand on Terra's wooden keyblade._

 _XXXX_

Both Ventus and Josette stared broodingly at the wooden keyblade that Ventus's holds in his left hand before he started twirling it around with one hand. On the third twirling, the wooden keyblade flew out of his hand, fell and landed with a clatter sound on the ground in front of a tan-skinned, short spiky red-haired, green-eyed guy wearing a white tank top with an orange sleeveless vest over it, tan cargo pants, a yellow and black checkered keffiyeh tied around his neck and red sneakers on his feet and a slightly fair-skinned, short pale green-haired, brown-eyed girl wearing a short sleeve white T-shirt, long blue jeans and black shoes on her feet. The guy then picked the wooden keyblade up from the ground and swung it around a little before he and the girl turned to glance at both Ventus and Josette.

"This yours?" the spiky red-haired guy asked Ventus (who didn't answer back to him).

"Excuse me, when someone ask you a question, you should answer back." said the girl in an annoyed tone of voice to Ventus when she saw that he didn't answer her friend's question.

"Sorry about that. He's just being a little moody at the moment." said Josette in an apologetic tone of voice to the girl (which make Ventus scowled quite darkly at her).

"Lea, Sara. We don't have time for this." said a tan-skinned, short medium-length blue hair, green eyed guy wearing a blue elbow-sleeved vest with a yellow crescent moon on the top left side of the vest, long white pants and short black boots on his feet.

"Isa's right, you two. Come on." said a slightly fair-skinned, short wavy blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl wearing a short sleeve pale purple sundress with white sandals on her feet to both Lea and Sara.

"Lighten up, Isa, Mira. It'll only take a sec." Lea told both Isa and Mira (which make them sigh in unison while Sara stay silent and watched Lea) as he approach both Ventus and Josette. "You still play with toy swords? That's cute." said Lea to Ventus as he lowered the wooden keyblade to him, instead Ventus scoffed and turned to look away from him.

"Now this right here. Tada!" said Lea as he dropped the wooden keyblade down to the ground to pull out two red and black-coloured Frisbees with Bomb designs on them. "Whaddaya think?" asked Lea.

"Not a whole lot." said Ventus, not interested at the Frisbees that Lea just take out and show him and Josette.

"Oh, come on, Ven. Don't be such a moody guy." said Josette as she scowled at Ventus.

"It's fine." said Lea in a reassuring tone of voice to Josette before he glance back at Ventus. "You're just jealous. I'm Lea and this girl with me is Sara. Got it memorized?" said Lea as he introduced himself and Sara to both Ventus and Josette. "What's both your name?" Lea asked both Ventus and Josette.

"Ventus." said Ventus as he introduced himself to Lea and Sara.

"Josette." said Josette as she introduced herself to them as well.

"Nice to meet you two, Ventus, Josette. I'm Sara and this is Lea, my friend." said Sara, introducing herself and Lea to them both.

"Okay, Ventus, let's fight!" Lea told Ventus.

"Fight? Why would I wanna do that?" said Ventus in a confused tone of voice to Lea.

"You scared of losing? C'mon." said Lea in a mocking tone of voice to Ventus before he jumped backward away from him and got into his battle stance. "Hope you're ready."

Ventus glance at Lea for a few seconds before he smiled, grab the wooden Keyblade and both he (and Josette) stood up from the ground and got into battle stance.

"Yeah! Now we're talkin'!" said Lea in an excited tone of voice.

"You're gonna be sorry!" Ventus warned him.

"Try to not hurt him too much, Ven." Josette told Ventus.

"Don't worry, I won't, Jo." replied Ventus.

"Good luck, Lea." said Sara in an encouraging tone of voice to Lea (which make him smiled at her while both Isa and Mira stared and smiled silently at them).

Both Ventus and Lea then charge toward each other and began their battle. After a short while, Ventus raised and swung his wooden keyblade down on Lea, causing him to stumbled and fall backward to the ground.

"Lea!" said Sara in a worry tone of voice to Lea as she quickly approach and kneel down next to him to check for any injuries.

"I'm okay, Sara." said Lea in a reassuring tone of voice to Sara before both he and Sara glance up at Ventus. "You… had enough? 'Cause I'm willing to… call it a draw if you are."

"Huh? Right." said Ventus before he started snickering at Lea.

"Still, you did quite good against Ven, Lea. Keep this up and maybe you stand a chance in defeating him next time." said Josette, giving a small smile to Lea.

"What? You're encouraging him to defeat me, Jo? Some friend you are." said Ventus as he scowled at Josette for the second time (which make her smirk back at him).

"From where we stood, the only thing you draw was a big L on your forehead for _'Loser'_ … _'Lame'_ , _'Laughable'_ …" said Isa as both he and Mira make their way toward the 4 of them.

"Wha- Isn't this the part where ya two… cheer me up or somethin'? _'You're just having a bad day'_ or _'That's what you get for pullin' your punches!'_ Some friends you two are." grumbled Lea at both Isa and Mira as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Oh, you mean I was supposed to lie." said Isa.

"Maybe next time we will cheer you up then, Lea." said Mira.

"Ya see what I gotta put up with? Sure hope you two don't have friends like these two." said Lea to both Ventus and Josette as he placed his hands behind his head and lie back on the ground.

Ventus, Josette, Lea, Sara, Isa and Mira glance at each other before they started laughing together.

"Lea, Sara, we have to go." said Isa to both Lea and Sara after they ceased laughing.

"'Kay!" said Lea.

"We got it, Isa." said Sara as she and Lea stood up to their feet while both Isa and Mira turned and started to walked away from them.

"Leaving already?" said Ventus.

"I'll see ya when I see ya. After all, we're friends now. Get it memorized." said Lea as he glance over his left shoulder at Ventus.

"Okay, Lea." said Ventus as he nodded to Lea.

"Same goes for you too, Josette." said Sara to Josette.

"Of course, Sara." said Josette, nodding her head to Sara.

XXXX

Both Lea and Sara then walked away from both Ventus and Josette and catches up with both Isa and Mira (who turned around to glance at them both).

"What is it with you and picking up stray puppies?" asked Isa.

"I want everybody I meet to remember me. Inside people's memories, I can live forever." replied Lea.

"I know I won't forget you. Believe me, I try all the time." said Isa as he let out a sigh.

"Yeah, me too." said Mira.

"See? I'm immortal!" said Lea as he started smiling at both Isa and Mira.

"No, you're obnoxious." said Isa before he, Lea, Sara and Mira turned and raised their heads to glance up at the distant large castle.

"You two ready?" asked Lea.

"Well, I can tell you and Sara are." replied Isa as he and Mira lowered their heads and glance at them both.

"All of us are, Isa." said Sara.

"Yeah. What she said." said Lea as he nodded his head to Sara.

XXXX

After Lea, Isa, Sara and Mira walked away from both Ventus and Josette both Ventus and Josette walked off together in another direction then stopped in their tracks and raised their heads to look up at the sky.

"Must be nice… knowin' who your friends are." said Ventus to himself and to Josette.

"Yeah, Ven." said Josette in an agreeing tone of voice to Ventus.


End file.
